Married
by Dazzlious
Summary: On Saturday 14th September 2002 Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are getting married. They're just not getting married to each other . . . . *NOW COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from JK Rowling's fantastic books or films, I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so.

A/N_: I was feeling romantic . . . and a little naughty. Enjoy Dx ;)_

* * *

'So, tell me again why we're going there?' Hermione asked, sounding confused, as she, Ginny, Luna, Hannah, Parvati, and Padma boarded the train at Euston.

'It's a traditional place for witches and wizards to go to celebrate their hen and stag do's,' Ginny said. 'It'll be fun.'

'Isn't it a bit Muggle, though?' Hermione asked curiously. 'I'd never thought of Blackpool as a particularly magical place.'

'The lights are nice,' Padma said.

'Yeah, I know that, but I still wouldn't have pegged it as a hotspot for wizarding folk,' Hermione said dubiously.

Ginny grinned. 'You've got to be joking — the place is famous for it; although to be fair, most people do try to go "Muggle" rather than whip out their wands. It's a real laugh. I went there with Alicia and her mates last year. We got so drunk we couldn't walk. And there's some real top totty there as well, which doesn't hurt.'

'Which isn't really going to be of much interest to me, is it?' Hermione said dryly.

'Oh, I don't know, you can always have one last fling,' Hannah said, then she giggled maniacally as if she had said something wicked.

'I can't see Ron being very happy about that,' Hermione retorted.

'What he doesn't know and all that,' Ginny pointed out with a grin. 'Anyway, you've no idea what he's up to and knowing my brothers . . . .'

'I'd rather not think about that, if it's all the same to you,' Hermione said a little stiffly. She frowned. 'Anyway, why aren't _they_ going to Blackpool, if it's the be-all and end-all?'

'You can't both go to the same place, silly,' Luna replied. 'How are you supposed to enjoy yourself if you know your fiancé's around somewhere? You'd spend all your time either trying to trying to avoid him, or worse still, tracking him down to see what he's up to, and you wouldn't have any fun. It's much better this way. You can both relax, knowing you're not going to bump into each other, and have a great time.'

'Hmmm,' Hermione said, not sounding convinced. 'So where has Ron gone, anyway?' She looked at Ginny.

Ginny shrugged unconcernedly. 'I've no idea. Harry wouldn't tell me and you know what the others are like. I'm just the stupid little sister.'

'Forget about them,' Hannah advised. 'Let's just enjoy ourselves. I'm sure that's what they're going to do.'

'That's what worries me,' Hermione whispered. She sighed and put her weekend bag on the storage compartment above the seat, then sat down. 'So, does anyone have any idea of what we should be doing when we get there? I mean, we're going to be there for three days. I assume there's more to do than just drinking, seeing the lights and going to the fun fair, isn't there?'

She missed the look the others gave each other, wondering what else Hermione wanted from a hen weekend at the seaside. Surely she wasn't expecting high culture, was she?

'Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, I've got it all sorted,' Ginny said cockily, and she pulled a piece of parchment from the bag at her feet. She unrolled it and looked at it, grinning as she did so, then clearing her throat she began to read dramatically, 'Friday, thirteen-o-five, arrive at Blackpool station. It's only a couple of minutes' walk to the hotel. We'll dump our stuff, get the slap on, and head off for a pub crawl and check out the amusements and the piers, too. Back to the hotel after we've found somewhere to have dinner, get changed into something more interesting, and then we're going clubbing where we're going to drink ourselves under the table and go flirting with some fine lads.' Hermione looked as if she was about to say something but Ginny cut her off. 'Yes, you too, Hermione. There's nothing wrong with a bit of flirting. It's all part of the hen weekend experience. It's just a bit of fun, after all . . . and don't worry, none of us are going to go running back to tell Ron about it, so stop getting your knickers in a twist and just relax.' She looked back down at the parchment. 'Anyway, that's about it for today. I've got a load of stuff for us to do tomorrow but it depends on how pissed we get tonight, to be honest. Can't be doing roller coasters if we've got stonking great hangovers, and I don't know what time we're going to get back to the hotel, so we'll play that as it comes once we've all got up tomorrow.'

'I brought something along to get us started,' Hannah said with a smile. She rummaged around in her bag and eventually pulled out a set of what looked like test tubes full of coloured liquid. She passed one to each of girls in the group. 'Down in one!'

'What is it?' Padma asked, holding up the glass vial and looking interestedly at the green liquid within.

'Sour apple shots,' Hannah told her. She looked around at Hermione, who was shaking her head. 'What? It's just a bit of a laugh.'

'It's nine o'clock in the morning,' Hermione said in dismay.

'Yeah, but we're on holiday and we're girls behaving badly,' Ginny pointed out with a wink. She pulled the cork stopper from her vial and sniffed the contents. 'Mmmm, that smells nice. Come on, let your hair down for once in your life.'

Hermione watched as the others unstoppered their vials, too. She knew she was being a real stick-in-the-mud but if she was honest she hadn't really wanted a hen weekend in the first place. She had assumed there would be a quiet and brief bridal shower at the Burrow similar to the one that had been held for Fleur before her wedding to Bill, but instead Ginny and Luna had organised this brash whirlwind of a weekend and she was having trouble getting her head round it. She knew Ron was going away, too, although he had been rather cagey when she had tried to get out of him exactly where he was going and told her he had no idea, as it was a surprise being organised by Charlie and George. Hermione wasn't entirely sure she believed him.

She looked down at the vial in her hand. She really didn't want to start drinking this early in the day, but everyone else was looking at her like she was some sort of party-pooper and they _were_ doing this to celebrate her wedding. She sighed and pulled the cork from the tube. Thank Merlin she wasn't getting married for another week. It was going to take her that long to get over the hangover. She took a sniff of the liqueur and her head snapped back. God, that smelt strong . . . and revolting.

She looked around at the others. 'Okay, let's do it,' she said resignedly, and raised the tube. The others followed suit.

'On three,' Luna said.

'One,' Padma intoned.

'Two,' Parvati said.

'Three!' Hannah and Ginny both said it together.

The six girls downed the contents of the vials in one mouthful, Hermione and Padma both shaking their heads as they swallowed the shots.

'Bleurgh,' Padma said, her face screwed up in revulsion. 'That's disgusting!'

'Really? I thought it was scrummy,' Parvati said and she tipped the empty tube into her mouth as if trying to get another drop from it.

'Don't worry, I've got raspberry, too,' Hannah said with a grin. 'That's a bit sweeter.' She looked at Hermione and smiled. 'See, not that bad, was it?'

Hermione shook her head. 'No, but I can't have any more. I'm enough of a lightweight as it is. If I keep drinking shots I'll be drunk before we even get there. I don't want to spend all weekend in the hotel sleeping off a hangover.'

'Good point,' Ginny said. She slung her bag on the overhead compartment next to Hermione's, then sat down heavily beside her and slumped in her seat. She looked at her watch. 'It's just gone nine o'clock. How about if we limit it to a shot every hour on the hour — that way we'll have had five by the time we get to Blackpool.'

'Five!' Hermione blurted out, sounding dumbfounded. 'You did just hear me say that I'm a lightweight, didn't you? I won't be able to walk after five shots.'

'Not if you have them all at once,' Ginny admitted. 'But these will be an hour apart and we're going to be eating and drinking in between, so I bet you won't even notice.'

Hermione sighed loudly.

'Come on, Hermione,' Luna said cajolingly. She sat on the other side of Hermione and nudged Hermione's elbow with her own. 'We can always stop if you think you're getting too drunk.'

'God, you lot are a bunch of nags,' Hermione said, but she smiled. 'All right, on the hour . . . but no more. And once we get there I'm going to need a few soft drinks before we start drinking again.'

'This is going to be a cracking weekend,' Ginny prophesied.

* * *

Hermione's head was spinning, but then it had been that way for the last hour or so. She and her friends had been up and down the Promenade, in and out of every bar, pub and club on the strip. She'd had so much to drink that she couldn't walk straight, but she had to admit she'd had a bloody brilliant evening and that was definitely due to her friends.

Although she hadn't wanted to, they had forced her to dress up for the occasion in an outfit they had bought her especially for the weekend. It was a bride's outfit, but it was nothing like the demure dress she intended to wear for her wedding. Short and sassy, with a busty boned corset top and flouncy tutu skirt, it showed off far more than Hermione had ever shown in public before; and when they gave her stockings and high heels to wear with it she initially refused point-blank. She could imagine what Ron would say if he could see her dressed like this, and she knew he would be furious if he thought she was considering going out wearing the outfit. But then her friends had revealed their own gowns, similar attire to her own but in bright pink rather than the virgin white she had been given, and eventually, after a few more shots she had been coaxed into trying it on. By the time they left the hotel for the evening she was also sporting a pink and white garter belt, a large sash with the legend "Bride in Training" written across it in the same shade of pink as the "bridesmaid" dresses — her friends had sashes with "hen party" written on theirs — and a sparkly pink and white tiara with a mini-veil. She was aware she was probably showing off far too much of her body but the alcohol she had already consumed that day had done a good job of dulling her inhibitions.

At every stop she was the centre of attention, and as Ginny had said, there were plenty of fit young men who were more than happy to buy Hermione and her friends' drinks for a little harmless flirting. Some of them tried to touch her, which had freaked her out a little at first, but she soon discovered that as long as she made it clear from the outset that she was a strictly hands-off girl it didn't seem to affect the attention they received in any way. They were currently on their way to the largest club in town, called Syndicate, to which Ginny had given rave reviews and seemed to be the place that everyone made their way to eventually. It was huge and brightly lit and the music was so loud it could be heard from the street. Hermione had to admit she was quite glad this was the last stop for the night as she was beginning to flag. She was hoping to find somewhere to park herself while she waited for her friends to get fed up with dancing, as she didn't want to put a downer on what had been a wonderful evening by asking to go back to the hotel.

Hannah and Ginny headed straight for the bar as soon as they arrived. Padma and Parvati disappeared off to the toilet and Hermione and Luna stood to one side of the dance floor, making sure they were in a space where the others could easily find them. Luna was swaying, but Hermione thought she was dancing rather than ready to fall over as she remembered Luna dancing at Bill and Fleur's wedding. She could feel herself swaying as well, but she wasn't dancing. The alcohol was definitely affecting her; she really needed to stop drinking before she did something to embarrass herself.

'Are you all right, Hermione?' Padma asked. She and her twin had just returned from the loo and she was peering appraisingly at Hermione.

Hermione nodded her head but stopped that fairly quickly as it was making her dizzy. 'I think I'm drunk,' she admitted. 'I could really do with a sit-down.'

'I have to admit I'm feeling knackered,' Luna said, 'although I really like the music.' She drifted off, dancing again.

'Guess who we've just found at the bar,' Ginny said, sounding excited as she arrived back with their drinks. She handed them out. 'You'll never guess.'

'He's getting married next Saturday as well,' Hannah added.

'Who is?' Hermione asked interestedly. She took a swig of the bottle she had just been given.

'Draco Malfoy,' Hannah said, sounding awestruck.

'Draco Malfoy. And he's here?' Hermione asked in surprise. She couldn't imagine the rich boy choosing to hold his stag weekend in Blackpool. Perhaps it was the centre of wizarding high jinks after all.

'He is,' Ginny said excitedly. 'And he's got a whole bunch of lovely guys with him, including _Blaise Zabini_. He is _so_ hot.'

'What about Harry?' Hermione asked as she took in the dreamy look on Ginny's face.

Ginny shrugged. 'What about him? I told you, it's only a bit of harmless flirting . . . just a bit of fun. Come on, Hermione, you have to admit Blaise is absolutely gorgeous.'

Hermione glanced over towards the bar where Draco and his friends were still standing, apparently getting ready to down shots. She looked at the tall, dark-skinned man who was laughing at something one of the others had said. Ginny was right, he was absolutely gorgeous. Hermione's eyes moved to the blond who was standing at the centre of the group. He was even more handsome than his friend. In fact, he was astonishingly handsome. His white shirt, worn under a brocade waistcoat, was unbuttoned a little and for some reason she couldn't quite fathom it made her heart beat faster. His hair was tousled from where he had unthinkingly run his hands through it, and he was quite clearly drunk and having a good time.

She looked at the bottle she was holding and groaned inwardly. Oh god, she had just thought that Draco Malfoy was gorgeous. She had to be completely pissed; she _really_ needed to stop drinking before her judgement was clouded any further.

'Oooh, shots,' Hermione heard Ginny say as she headed back towards the bar with Hannah and the twins in tow.

Luna was still swaying next to Hermione, who didn't know whether to leave her and follow the others or wait to see if they came back. She turned to look back at the bar and realised that her friends had joined Draco and his friends, Ginny positioning herself as close to Blaise as she could possibly get without it being indecent. She saw one of the men — was it Greg Goyle? She wasn't sure because the man was definitely much more attractive than she remembered him from school, but he was of the right build — pluck at the sash Parvati was wearing as the woman laughed. Hermione realised she was focussing on them a little too heavily, so she turned back to Luna. She didn't want them to think she was staring at them. Then almost immediately she heard more laughter and turned again. Her friends were having a laugh and a joke with Draco and his mates. Had they forgotten about her? But a moment later Ginny was waving, calling out Hermione's and Luna's names and beckoning them over to join the group. Hermione looked at Luna again.

'Ginny wants us,' she said.

Luna nodded dreamily. 'More drinks.'

'Do you want to go or do you want to stay here?' Hermione asked. 'I don't mind either way.' She glanced again towards the group and once more her eyes caught Draco, but this time he was looking at her and he smiled and raised the shot glass he was holding.

'Come on, you two,' Hannah shouted, only just audible over the sound of the music, and she too raised a shot glass that she had obviously just been given.

'That handsome one is over there,' Luna announced dreamily. 'Let's go and talk to him and have a drink.'

She wandered past Hermione towards the group. Hermione followed, idly wondering which of the men Luna thought was handsome. It was probably Draco. He was quite obviously the most handsome guy there, probably the most handsome in the whole club, and it wouldn't surprise her if Luna had a bit of a thing for him.

'Come and have a shot,' Ginny said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the group so Hermione was standing opposite Draco.

'I don't think I want another shot,' Hermione said honestly. 'I've still got this.' She raised the bottle she was still carrying.

'Rubbish, we need more shots,' Ginny said, and with a grin she flung herself at the three guys from Draco's party who were still at the bar.

A few minutes later they were back carrying handfuls of shot glasses which they distributed around the group. Hermione reluctantly took the glass she was offered, watching with interest as Luna completely ignored Draco and instead made a beeline straight for . . . was that Theo Nott?

'So you and the Weasel are actually doing it, then,' Draco said, sounding dismissive. He moved forward so he was standing directly in front of her. He reached out to touch the sash she was wearing, looking at the words on it. 'What training are you after, Hermione?' he asked, his voice husky. Then he laughed loudly, which made her start in surprise.

She went to pull back from him but before she could get away he moved even closer and tapped his glass against hers.

'Don't run away. We've got a toast to drink to.'

Hermione was trying very hard to concentrate. Her head was spinning again, the room was very warm and Draco was too close for comfort; she could smell his aftershave and something else, something that was uniquely him. He smelt so good. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

'Just the one, then,' she told him. 'I've already had more than enough, really.'

Draco chuckled. 'You're still standing, so you haven't had anywhere near enough yet.'

He tapped her glass again. 'To our weddings,' he said and lifted his glass in a toast. Hermione lifted her glass as well and they both drank.

Around them Hermione realised the rest of the group was drinking, too, but she was having trouble concentrating on anyone but Draco. However hard she tried not to look at him, she found herself staring; at his tousled hair, his beautiful ice-grey eyes, his succulent mouth . . . .

'More shots,' he called, and the spell was broken.

'So, when are you getting married?' Draco asked.

'Next Saturday afternoon — two thirty,' Hermione said, trying to return to the here and now rather than an unwelcome fantasy that had just popped into her mind. 'And you?' she added, to be polite.

'Three thirty next Saturday,' Draco said, sounding a little dismissive. He looked over towards the bar. 'Where are those bloody shots?' he called out to Blaise, who was buying drinks with Ginny. 'Come on, keep them coming. I'm nowhere near pissed enough yet.'

'So why are you marrying Weasley?' he asked Hermione suddenly. He had moved another step closer and was gazing at her intently.

'Why do you think I'm marrying him?' Hermione couldn't help the tartness of her response. 'Because I'm in love with him, of course.'

Draco gave a huge sigh. 'Never could understand that. I mean there you are, gorgeous and sexy . . . and brainy as well . . . and he's just a real dolt.'

'You don't know anything about him,' Hermione said, suddenly angry. 'He's a fine man . . . and a better person than you'll ever be.'

'I doubt that, sweetheart,' Draco said smoothly, and before she knew what was happening he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against his body. 'I bet I could make you cum harder than he does,' he whispered in her ear.

Shocked, Hermione struggled, trying to get out of his grip, but he just held her tighter and laughed.

'Oh look, the bride and groom have got it together,' Hermione heard someone say. She had no idea who it was, but it was a man. She heard a woman's high laugh in response.

'Don't try to fight me,' Draco said, his voice still quiet in her ear. 'You can't beat me.'

'Let me go, Draco.'

He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head and said in a lazy drawl, 'No, I don't think so. I haven't had a kiss yet.'

Hermione looked at him in astonishment. 'A kiss? Why would you want a kiss?'

'Why do you think?' Draco asked. He could feel Hermione squirming again and pulled her even tighter to stop it.

'Oh yeah, what are you two up to, eh?' Blaise asked as he and Ginny suddenly appeared at their sides. Hermione saw the woman give her a massive grin. 'Shots?' He held out two glasses.

Draco unwrapped one of his arms a little reluctantly to take one of the glasses but he didn't let go of Hermione completely. Hermione reached out for the other, hoping to use it as an excuse to move away, but Draco was still holding onto her too firmly.

Draco grinned. 'I was hoping to talk Hermione into a kiss,' he told his friend candidly. 'I mean, with us both getting married and—'

He was cut off by a squeal from Ginny. 'Oh yes, Hermione, you must.'

Hermione glared at Ginny and hissed, 'I'm marrying your brother, remember.'

'It's only a kiss,' Ginny explained patiently. 'You are allowed one final kiss with someone else before you get married, you know. That's what this weekend is all about — getting it out of your system.'

'Not for me it isn't,' Hermione retorted, sounding unhappy.

'Oh, for god's sake, Hermione, it's only a bit of fun,' Ginny chided. 'It's just a kiss. What harm's it going to do?'

'Time for shots,' Draco said, breaking the tension that was rapidly building between the two women, and he lifted his glass. He was still looking and smiling at Hermione.

Hermione looked around. She and Draco were now at the centre of their group and it seemed that all her friends had paired off with friends of his. That really wasn't going to help.

'To last kisses,' Draco said with a wicked grin as he clinked his glass against Hermione's.

There was a roar of approval at this from the group as they all downed their drinks. Greg and Blaise immediately peeled away to head to the bar once more. Before Draco could do anything, Hermione pulled out of his arms and moved away from him.

'I need to go to the loo,' she muttered, and pushed her way through the group. Hannah followed her.

Draco watched her go and gave a deep chuckle. 'Just as uptight as ever, I see,' he observed. 'She really needs more shots.'

'She's okay. She's just a bit hung up on Ron. You know what Hermione's like.' Ginny laughed and shook her head. 'Gods, if she only knew what he was up to this weekend—'

'What is he up to?' Draco asked interestedly.

Ginny shrugged. 'I don't know for certain, as they were all a bit secret-squirrel about it every time I was around, but I did manage to pick up a few hints and I know it includes strippers — and if my brother Charlie's got anything to do with it, probably prostitutes as well.'

'I bet Hermione wouldn't be very impressed if she found out about that,' Draco said, sounding amused.

'She changes the subject every time Ron's stag's mentioned,' Ginny said with a sigh. 'She's extremely good at turning a blind eye, our Hermione . . . especially where my precious brother's concerned. I just wanted her to loosen up for once and have a bit of fun before it's too late.'

'I'm sure we can help with that,' Draco said as Greg passed him another shot glass. He clinked glasses with Ginny and they both drank.

Ginny looked appraisingly at Draco. 'I always thought you had a bit of a thing for Hermione when we were at school, with all that arguing and stuff. You were worse than her and Ron sometimes.'

Draco shook his head. 'She was an annoying know-it-all back at school.'

'Yeah, but you still fancied her,' Ginny said shrewdly.

Draco ignored the jibe. 'I assume you really _won't_ say anything to your brother about anything Hermione does while she's here?'

'Why? What are you going to do to her?' Ginny asked, her voice slightly sharper now.

Draco raised his hands. 'I'm not doing anything. I was just checking that you really are going to let her have fun . . . if she wants it.'

Ginny glanced at Blaise, who gave her a cheeky wink. She winked back and reached out a hand to stroke his face.

'We're all here to have fun, aren't we?' She glanced over to where Luna and Theo were already busy snogging each other, then she looked back at Draco. 'I don't think anyone would have any cause to say anything about this weekend . . . at least I hope not.'

Draco smirked. 'I'm glad we understand each other. Don't worry about Hermione; I'll look after her.' He looked towards the dance floor where he could see Hermione and Hannah coming back from the toilet. 'I must be able to get her to dance, surely? A dance can't hurt.'

He walked towards them, leaving Ginny and Blaise, who had already lost interest in anything but each other, behind. Hermione saw Draco coming towards her and tried to move away but she wasn't able to walk properly after the amount of alcohol she'd had and wasn't very successful.

Draco held out his hand. 'Will you dance with me?' he asked.

Hermione stared at him without saying anything until finally Hannah nudged her in the back.

'Well go on,' she urged. 'Dance with him.'

Hermione gave a brief shake of her head and stared meaningfully at her friend but Hannah just laughed.

'It's just a dance, Hermione. He's not trying to get in your knickers.' She chuckled. 'Just lighten up a bit. It's just a bit of fun, that's all.'

Draco grinned and said smoothly, 'It's true. I just want to dance.' He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, then pulled her towards him and wrapped his other arm around her waist. 'I'm saving your knickers until later,' he whispered in her ear then laughed loudly as Hermione, looking horrified, tried to pull away from him. 'That was a joke,' he told her rapidly at the sight of her face. 'Let's just dance.'

'I think Ginny's got a bit of thing for Blaise,' he said with amusement as they danced. He looked across at the couple who had also taken to the dance floor.

'She's _supposed_ to be going out with Harry,' Hermione said tartly. 'But look at her. She's all over Blaise like a rash.'

'Perhaps you should take a leaf out of her book,' Draco said quietly. 'I mean, you'll never be able to do it again, not once you—'

'I'm sorry if I'm ruining everyone's weekend,' Hermione said waspishly, 'but I don't understand why everyone's so keen for me to whore myself out.'

Draco looked at her in surprise. 'I don't think anyone's suggesting that, Hermione. They just want you to relax and have fun for once in your life.'

'Perhaps I don't want to relax,' Hermione snapped.

'That's a ridiculous attitude to have,' Draco told her. 'After this weekend you're going to be stuck forever with that idiot you're marrying. At least try to have some fun before it's too late.'

'For your information, I have lots of fun with Ronald,' Hermione said, her eyes blazing with anger. 'And I'm fed up with everyone telling me to lighten up and have fun.' She pulled out of Draco's arms and added coldly, 'I'm sorry Draco, I don't want to dance . . . not with anyone.'

'Hermione—'

Hermione shook her head and stalked off the dance floor. Ginny broke away from Blaise to join Draco.

'What did you do to her?' she asked accusingly.

Draco shook his head. 'Nothing. I was only dancing with her. She's fed up with people trying to get her to have fun. She's feeling pressured and it's making her fight against it. I think you've all been trying too hard, especially on the first night.'

'We haven't really overdone it, though,' Ginny said defensively.

'Not with a normal person, maybe, but you know what Hermione's like. With the way she is you should have taken the fact that you managed to get her to go out in public in that amazing outfit as a triumph and left it at that for tonight,' Draco told her. 'If you keep pushing her she'll just refuse to do anything you suggest and she'll go the opposite way. You know what she's like.'

'You like the outfit, then?' Ginny asked with a sly laugh.

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Of course I like it. I don't think there's a red-blooded male in the whole of Blackpool who isn't extremely grateful to you lot for getting her dressed up like that. But that doesn't change the fact that she's feeling uncomfortable about what you're trying to get her to do.'

'Why don't you just kiss her?' Ginny asked. 'I know you want to.'

'Even if I were considering it — which I'm not, by the way — she's not ready to relax her morality enough to be kissed by someone other than Weasley,' Draco said brusquely. There was a frown on his face. 'Anyway, I'm not forcing myself on her. If she doesn't want my company, it's not my loss. Go back to Blaise. I'm going to go and prop up the bar for a while.'

Ginny shook her head and sighed. 'No. It's time I had a proper talk with Hermione . . . to make sure she's all right. I know she wasn't particularly eager to have a hen weekend in the first place. We sort of dumped it on her after we'd organised it and we didn't really arrange anything that she enjoys doing because we wanted it to be a fun weekend, not educational.'

* * *

Hermione was feeling extremely uncomfortable. The argument with Draco seemed to have sobered her up a little, and standing alone as she now was, she was becoming very aware of the looks she was being given by other men in the club. All her friends were off dancing, enjoying themselves as they kept telling her she should enjoy herself, and she was defenceless, wearing this stupid tarty outfit that now she was thinking slightly more clearly she realised was definitely a mistake. She wanted to go back to the hotel, wanted to get away from the club and its men with their leering looks and their crude comments, away from Draco and his beautiful eyes that stared at her too deeply, his perfect mouth that she had more than once considered kissing this evening, wondering what it would be like to be with the handsome man she'd had so many intense if unpleasant moments with during her time at school.

And that was the main problem. She wanted to kiss Draco.

When he had suggested it she was shocked, but her drunken mind had quickly run with the idea, realising she was enjoying him holding her. But then she remembered Ron and a wave of guilt rushed through her and she had to get away. It was all very well for Ginny and the others to treat it in such a blasé way, but she couldn't. She was a week away from becoming Mrs Ronald Weasley and she couldn't just ignore that. She wasn't Ginny, able to forget her boyfriend on a whim because there was another beautiful man around to be snogged instead. Hermione had always been faithful to Ron and now wasn't the time to change that — especially not with the man he still detested most in the world.

She thought again about Ron and wondered for a moment where he was and what he was doing, but then realised she didn't really want to know. She had been trying to ignore all of Ginny's less-than-subtle hints at what her fiancé, his brothers and Harry were going to be getting up to ever since they had met up at the train station in London. Was he in a club, wherever he was? Was he acting like Draco, or worse, like some of the other men who had tried to talk to her . . . had tried to grope her? At least Draco hadn't done that. He had only danced with her. She looked at the dance floor and her friends wrapped around Draco's friends. For a moment a vision of Ron engaged in snogging some miscellaneous, shadowy girl entered her mind but she pushed the thought away. It didn't matter what Ron was doing; there was nothing she could do to stop it and she didn't need to know about it, either.

She turned as one of the men closest to her leant in to proposition her. Hermione moved away a little, not sure she understood what the man had asked her to do but feeling even more uncomfortable. She really didn't want to be here any more, but at the same time she desperately wanted another drink in the hope that it would restore her good mood that had now completely evaporated.

'Are you okay?' Ginny suddenly appeared at her side, seeming to effortlessly brush away the men who had been attempting to talk to Hermione.

'I don't feel very comfortable here,' Hermione admitted honestly. 'I want to go back to the hotel. I've had enough.'

'Do you want another drink? Hang on,' Ginny said. She turned her head to smile sweetly at the man who had just lewdly propositioned Hermione, her brown eyes glinting. 'If you don't take your hand off my bottom this minute I'm going to get my brothers to come and kick your stupid scrawny arse,' she said fiercely. 'Now piss off and take your perving somewhere else.'

Hermione looked at Ginny in astonishment. The man looked surprised, too, then swore nastily at the two women before walking away, punching his mate's arm as he went when the man started laughing at what had happened.

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other for a moment then burst out laughing too, the tension between them broken.

'Your brothers aren't here,' Hermione said.

'He doesn't know that, though, does he?' Ginny pointed out. 'Anyway, I'd have got Draco and his friends over if he'd given us any trouble.' She turned to look at the departing man. 'Don't worry about him, he was a tosser. So, do you want that drink?'

'I think I've sobered up,' Hermione said morosely, 'and I'm not really in the mood now. I feel extremely uncomfortable in this.' She tugged unhappily at the bride outfit. 'I can't believe you persuaded me to come out dressed like this.'

'You look hot,' Ginny told her, and she grinned. 'And let's face it, Hermione, you never look sexy. It's just not in your nature. I know you're feeling a little uncomfortable right now, but it'll be good for you to be out of your comfort zone for a few days. Come and have a few more drinks, and if you still want to go then we'll leave.'

'One more drink,' Hermione said, still sounding unhappy.

'One and a shot,' Ginny bargained.

Hermione gave a small half-smile. 'Okay, but then that's it.'

Ginny returned the smile. She was sure she could get Hermione to stay for a bit longer than that.

'And just remember, what happens in Blackpool stays in Blackpool,' she said as she led Hermione back to the bar. She winked lewdly. 'So go on, give Draco a snog if you want. I reckon you've both been dying to do it for years.'

'I most certainly haven't,' Hermione said indignantly, but she could feel her face flushing as she said it and the memory of how she _had _considered kissing him came into her mind. She shook her head. 'I will _not_ be kissing Draco Malfoy. I'm sorry, Ginny, but I just don't understand this "last fling" nonsense. I'm not interested. I will have a couple more drinks and I'll dance with him again if he asks me, but that's it — it's not going any further than that.'

Ginny shrugged. 'Whatever. Just as long as you're happy. We're supposed to be having fun this weekend, remember?'

* * *

Hermione was attempting to make her way back to the hotel. She was generally pissed off with everyone and everything at the moment and was trying hard not to cry. She had ended up staying at the club for several more drinks; so many, in fact, that she had lost count and was almost seeing double. But then Ginny had broken her promise and refused to go back to the hotel as she was busy getting a bit more intimate with Blaise than Hermione thought was appropriate, considering she already had a boyfriend. Hermione had no idea where Padma and Parvati had got to but she suspected they weren't alone as Greg and Adrian had both disappeared, too. Luna and Theo didn't appear to have come up for air for over an hour and Hannah was busy dancing with Alex. Only Hermione and Draco were left, and after his earlier comments about kissing her and with her burgeoning desire for him that was completely untenable, she had not wanted to go anywhere near him even though he had managed to persuade her to dance with him a couple of times.

Unhappy, angry, and definitely not thinking properly due to the excessive alcohol in her bloodstream, Hermione had decided to abandon her friends. If they wouldn't go back to the hotel with her, she would go alone. But now she was outside and she wasn't sure she was going the right way because the roads had got darker and there were far fewer people around. She had thought she could vaguely remember where the hotel was, but they had been to so many places since leaving it earlier that now she couldn't work out whether she was even going in the right direction. The stupid high heels she was wearing were hurting her feet, too, but she couldn't take them off; and she was having trouble walking, both because of the shoes and because of the alcohol.

To add to her problems she had attracted the attention of a group of lads who were hanging around outside a kebab shop she had passed a few minutes back and they were following her down the street, making shockingly suggestive comments and drawing ever closer, circling her like a pack of hyenas. Hermione was attempting to ignore them, her concentration centred on keeping upright and walking. She just wished her head wasn't spinning so much. She was sure she was going to be sick and was desperate not to do so whilst she was out in public, especially with an audience.

'Hello, darlin', are you all right?'

Hermione blocked out the man who had broken away from his friends to walk next to her. She focused her eyes ahead of her as best she could and breathed deeply, hoping it would help to remove the dizziness.

'You're looking very sexy, babe. You lookin' for a good time?' The man was even closer now and she could no longer pretend he wasn't there. She could smell the beer on his breath, stale and unpleasant, matching the unkempt look he was sporting — a wrinkled white shirt, chin full of dark stubbly growth, and a shock of dark hair that had too much gel in it.

Hermione shook her head. 'No, thank you. I'm just trying to get back to my hotel.'

The man grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. His friends were almost upon them now.

'You don't wanna do that, darlin'. You wanna come with us,' he said, obviously trying to sound seductive although it actually sounded more creepy than anything. 'We'll look after you, give you all the training you want.' He winked at her lewdly and pulled at the sash she was still wearing.

Hermione's senses were severely dulled by the alcohol but even so she felt a sense of dread as the other men began to close in on her as well.

'No . . . please. I really need to get back to the hotel. I don't feel very well,' she said, trying unsuccessfully to break away from the group.

'We'll make you feel better,' said one of the group, a tall, bald man with an earring in one ear, his voice husky.

Hermione cried out as he grabbed at one of her breasts and was relieved to discover that the boned corset actually did a good job of blocking him. But it didn't block one of his friends who thrust his hand up under the tutu. Hermione twisted and squealed, causing her to stumble. One of the men grabbed her arm to pull her upright.

'No . . . leave me alone!' Hermione could hear the panic and fear in her voice as she tried frantically to stop them touching her. She was suddenly chillingly aware that there was no help to be found on this quiet street.

'Come on, darlin', you know you want it really,' the first man said, still trying to sound reasonable.

Hermione's head was swirling again and her stomach was churning and the men were grabbing at her. One, an Asian-looking man with acne scars on his face, had managed to get his arm around her waist and was pulling her towards him.

'Now be a good girl and come with us,' said another, also dressed in a white shirt. His voice was quiet but had an underlying tone of menace.

A blond dressed in a leather jacket and black jeans standing the other side of Hermione chuckled as he crowed, '_Good girl_ . . . look at her, Dean, she's obviously a slut.' He leant towards her, clearly staring at her breasts and said happily, 'A dirty little slut who needs a good seeing to.'

Hermione whimpered and dropped her head, not wanting to look at the men who were surrounding her, pulling and groping at her and making her heart hammer with fear. The tears that had been welling since she left the club were falling now and she was so scared of what was happening to her that she couldn't even brush them away. There were too many men and she was too drunk and too frightened to be able do anything to stop them; not that she could do anything anyway since her wand was back at the hotel, left behind so they could enjoy a "Muggle" night out, as Ginny had put it. Hermione sobbed loudly, unable to stop herself, and thought miserably that this served her right for being so stupid and leaving the club alone . . . for being stupid enough to get drunk in the first place.

'Leave her alone!'

Hermione raised her head and saw a blurry Draco, looking completely sober, walking down the road towards them.

'Yeah, all right, Prince Charming,' the blond said sarcastically. 'Piss off. We found her and we're looking after her.'

'That's right,' the first man said. 'She wants to come and play with us.' He twisted Hermione's face to look at him, ignoring the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. 'Don't you, darling?'

'Draco,' Hermione whispered unhappily.

'This is your husband-to-be, is it?' the Asian asked Hermione. He grinned nastily.

'I said leave her alone,' Draco said again, his face a mask of fury as he approached the group. 'I'm warning you.'

'You all alone, boss?' the bald man asked. There was a hint of malice along with the amusement in his voice. 'I like your confidence.'

The whole group laughed, all thinking about how Draco would fare against them, knowing that by the time they had finished with him he would be in no position to help the drunk girl who was about to provide them with so much pleasure. This evening was getting better all the time.

'I don't need anyone else,' Draco replied imperiously, and pulling his wand from his pocket he pointed it threateningly towards the men.

The group's lack of surprise or laughter at the sight of the wand made it clear they were wizards. Draco assessed the situation rapidly but carefully in case they were carrying their wands, too. That would change the game completely. But if they had been carrying them they would have pulled them out by now, so he was still the one in charge here.

'Are you going to hex us all?' the first man asked, sounding distinctly unconvinced. He gave a snort of derision. 'Yeah, I don't think so, mate.'

The blond added, 'A bit of free advice for you, "Prince". You wanna stop your girlfriend going out dressed like a slut, otherwise she's gonna get treated like one . . . know what I mean?' He made a grotesque thrusting gesture with his pelvis and grinned maliciously. 'Does she like to gang bang? Does she like a bit of multiple penetration?'

Hermione squealed again as someone else stuck his hand up her skirt, trying to grab at her knickers.

'Last chance,' Draco said coldly. 'You will let go of her immediately and take your worthless, pathetic carcasses as far away from here as you can get, otherwise I'm going to hex you all.'

'You ain't doing nothing to us,' the man called Dean said, sounding belligerent. 'You're all talk, otherwise you'd have already done it by now.'

He lunged at Hermione and tried to push his hand down the top of her corset, grabbing at her breasts. Hermione shrieked hysterically.

'Don't say I didn't warn you,' Draco told them, his voice positively glacial. He waved his wand, muttering quietly as he did so.

'Come here, Hermione,' he said gently but firmly to the terrified woman, then moved forward to help her as she disentangled herself from the frozen men. 'Gender-specific stupefying spell,' he explained as she looked at him in astonishment, then he wrapped his arms around her as she burst into a flood of tears once more and held onto her tightly while she sobbed.

'We really need to go,' he said sounding a little apologetic, after a couple of minutes when she had managed to calm down a little. 'Otherwise I'm going to get into trouble for this.' He gestured towards the group of men who were still frozen. 'Where's your hotel?'

Hermione shook her head miserably. 'I don't know. I can't remember.'

'What's it called? I'm sure you can remember that,' Draco pressed gently.

'The Castle, I think,' Hermione said, sounding unsure.

'Can you remember anything about it at all?'

'I know it's about five minutes' walk from the station in the direction of the town,' Hermione recalled.

'I think I know where it is. Come on, then, let's get you back,' Draco said. He put his arm around her waist. 'Are you all right to walk or do you want me to carry you?'

'Carry me?' Hermione almost shrieked. 'I'm not that drunk or that helpless.' Draco gave her a look that quite clearly said she was wrong. 'I'm fine to walk,' she insisted bullishly, and began to pull away.

Draco kept hold of her. 'Okay, you can walk,' he told her mildly. 'But I'll just hold on to you to make sure you don't fall over or faint or something.'

'I'm fine,' Hermione insisted. But she stopped trying to pull away.

After another twenty minutes of extremely slow and somewhat meandering walking they finally arrived outside Hermione's hotel.

'Is this the one?' Draco asked looking at it dubiously. It really wasn't much of a hotel.

Hermione squinted at the sign. Her head was still spinning and she was feeling tired now. She really wanted to go to bed.

'Yes, that's it,' she said happily. 'Thank you so much for bringing me back, Draco. I'll be fine from here.'

'I'll take you up to your room,' Draco said. 'I want to know that you're safe.'

'I'll be fine, perfectly fine. You don't have to come with me,' Hermione insisted.

'But I want to,' Draco said, his soft voice making her skin tingle.

'No . . . Draco . . . really . . . .'

But Draco was holding too tightly for her to get away. He led her up the steps and into the empty reception area.

'What's your room number?' he asked looking around the lobby of the rather dingy guest house.

Hermione looked at him, debating what to say. She didn't want Draco to know her room number, didn't want him taking her there — not when they were alone, not when he was looking so kissable and she was feeling so vulnerable and in need of a hug after what she had just been through.

'I'll be fine to go on my own,' she said again, suddenly aware that she might be slurring a little. She was really still quite drunk.

'But I'm not willing to let you go on your own. I want to make sure you don't break your neck falling over or anything,' Draco insisted firmly. 'Now, what floor are you on?'

Hermione sighed loudly then said reluctantly, 'Second floor.'

Draco led her towards the stairs. 'Number?'

Hermione didn't say anything but dragged her feet as Draco pulled her up the stairs. She was swaying again, too. She knew she was being idiotic but she couldn't help herself. They got to the correct landing and Draco looked around.

'Which way?' he asked patiently.

Eventually, when it became clear he had no intention of leaving her and was prepared to wait all night for her answer if need be, Hermione reluctantly pointed to the left.

They walked down the corridor, Draco looking interestedly at the rooms. The guest house didn't seem to be particularly busy; a lot of the doors were open, showing the empty rooms beyond and the place looked rather old-fashioned and was sorely in need of a bit of redecoration.

Breaking the silence, he noted, 'Bit of a quiet hotel, this one. The one we're staying in is packed. Mind you, it is on the seafront rather than out of the way like this one. What room number are you in?'

'It was cheap,' Hermione said, as if that explained everything. She tried again. 'I'm not going to fall over, you know. You'll be perfectly okay to leave me here.'

'I'm not leaving you,' Draco told her adamantly. He looked at her interestedly. 'Why don't you want to tell me your room number, Hermione?'

She stared back at him, suddenly embarrassed and not sure what to say. She couldn't explain to him why she didn't want him to know where her room was. But what was she supposed to tell him that didn't involve the truth? Unfortunately, she was too drunk to be able to think up a fast and rational response; he would know she was lying.

Draco chuckled. 'You don't want me to know where you're sleeping. What are you worried will happen?' Hermione looked away from him, even more embarrassed at being caught out. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. 'I'd quite like that kiss now.'

'No . . . Draco . . . .'

'Shhh,' Draco whispered. He bent his head and his lips met hers gently.

The kiss was far less passionate than Hermione had expected, had imagined on the several occasions this evening when she had considered kissing Draco, and she found herself strangely disappointed. A kiss with him, illicit as it was, should be better than this, should have some substance; especially after he saved her from the men who would have done god only knew what to her if he hadn't come along. He had rescued her and deserved a proper kiss.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco and pulled him into a far more sensual kiss, surrendering herself to it completely when he eagerly returned it. More kisses followed, heady and sweet; the dizziness Hermione had already been feeling was increased by the lack of oxygen as the kisses went on and on.

'Your room,' Draco whispered between kisses.

Hermione shook her head.

'Then we'll go in here,' Draco said, and still holding tight to Hermione he pulled her into an empty room.

'No, we mustn't,' Hermione tried to say, but Draco cut her off with another kiss, his hand moving surreptitiously to his pocket to pull out his wand. He stopped kissing her just long enough to close the door. Another wave of the wand and the bed was no longer just a bare mattress.

'I want you so much,' he admitted as he guided her back towards the bed. He pushed her down beneath him, his mouth finding hers once more.

'Draco, we have to stop this,' Hermione said, although her heart was beating faster and her blood was racing.

'Just lie with me for a little while. I like kissing you,' Draco told her.

'But we shouldn't—'

'Shhh,' Draco whispered again, more commandingly, and his lips found hers. His hand traced her leg, his fingers tickling the soft skin above the stocking he was stroking.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione opened her eyes and gave a small groan of pain. Her head was throbbing and everything else ached. Squinting at the bright light pouring through the window but currently unable to move because of the thumping in her head, she tried to work out where the hell she was and how she had got there. She definitely wasn't in her hotel room. Feeling a slight pressure on her body, she realised she wasn't alone, either. With dawning horror she turned her head to find Draco lying next to her. He was smiling.

'Good morning,' he said lazily, sounding far too cheerful for someone who had spent the previous night downing shots like there was no tomorrow.

Hermione's heart sank. At the moment she couldn't remember very much about last night but somehow she had ended up in bed with Draco Malfoy. She squirmed out of his arms and sat up, grabbing her head as a sharp slice of pain shot through it. She closed her eyes, gave a loud groan followed by several deep breaths, then re-opened them. She looked down.

Well, at least she was still fully dressed, and so was Draco as far as she could see.

Remembrance of the night before began to seep back into her memory as she closed her eyes once again, her head still pounding and making her feel dizzy and sick: her leaving the nightclub in anger; the men who had tried to attack her; Draco saving her; him bringing her back to the hotel; and the empty room . . . the empty room they were obviously still in. For a moment a vision of her and Draco engaged in something they definitely shouldn't have been doing flashed into her mind but she forced it out. She didn't want to think about that. She released her head as her eyes opened once more, her brain finally catching up and realising it was morning.

'Oh my god, what's the time?' she asked in sudden panic, forcing herself off the bed although her body wasn't at all ready for the movement. She sat back down on the edge of the bed trying to steady herself as the nausea rose.

Draco looked at his watch. 'Five thirty. It's far too early to get up. Come back to bed.'

'You've got to be joking,' Hermione said her voice tense. She shook her head miserably. 'Oh god, what's Ginny going to say? How the hell am I going to explain where I've been?'

Draco, who had sat up too, looked at Hermione with amusement. 'You don't go clubbing much, do you, Hermione?'

She frowned. 'Very rarely. It's not really my idea of a good evening out. But what's that got to do with anything?'

Draco swung his legs round so he was sitting next to her. He took hold of her hand. Hermione tried to pull away but he was holding it too tightly.

'The club we were at last night doesn't close until six. Ginny won't even be back yet.'

Hermione looked astonished. 'Six? Why on earth would anyone want to stay there that long?' She thought for a moment, then added, 'Anyway, just because it's open until then it doesn't mean she stayed.'

Draco laughed. 'Of course she stayed. She's not a lightweight like you.' He grinned wickedly. 'And I know Blaise was intending to stay until closing.'

'I need to go back to my room,' Hermione said. She stood up, trying to pull her hand from Draco's once again.

Draco sighed and he stood, too. 'Are you sure I can't get you to come back to bed?' he asked silkily. He wrapped his arms about her waist and pulled her close to him.

'No . . . let go of me, Draco.'

'But we had such a good time,' he said. 'I shall have to rescue you more often if that's how you're going to repay me.'

Hermione pulled away from him, looking unhappy. 'I'm grateful to you for rescuing me from those men, but I was drunk last night and anything we did. . . .' She broke off for a moment, not wanting to go down that route. She bent down and picked up her shoes, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness that the movement caused. 'Look, I really am grateful but I need to get back to my room.'

'Shall I come with you?' Draco asked.

Hermione shook her head, looking panicked. 'God, no!'

He moved towards her but Hermione backed away, not wanting him to touch her.

'Aren't you at least going to give me a kiss?' Draco asked, sounding disappointed. 'I'd have thought that after—'

'I was drunk,' Hermione repeated coldly. 'I'm sorry, Draco, but I was drunk and I let things get out of hand because I was overwhelmed by . . . circumstances. Nothing should have happened between us and we have to forget it . . . have to pretend it never happened.'

'But it did, though,' Draco said simply. 'And whatever you say now, you wanted it as much as I did. It wasn't all one-way, you know.'

'As I said, I was drunk,' Hermione retorted, and before Draco could do or say anything else she made a dash for the door, slamming it behind her.

Draco sighed and looked at the rumpled bed. It was time for him to go back to his hotel and get some sleep. He too was suffering from a hangover; he was just better at hiding it than Hermione, although maybe that was because he was more used to getting drunk than she was. After putting his shoes on he picked up his wand from the bedside table and waved it, turning the room back to the way it had been when they arrived. Smiling, he turned and headed for the door. He didn't care what Hermione said. After the things they had done he knew she fancied him as much as he fancied her, and he was determined they would be getting intimate again just as soon as he could possibly arrange it.

* * *

Hermione walked as nonchalantly as she could manage through the door to her room, trying to ignore the hangover that was crucifying her. The room was empty. As Draco had speculated, Ginny had not yet returned from the club nor was there any sign that she had been back and gone out again. Hermione let out a huge sigh of relief. It was just possible she was going to get away with what she had done. She walked over to the window and pulled the curtains shut, cutting out the bright light. That was a little better.

As rapidly as possible, considering the hangover, she changed into her pyjamas; then, taking her wash bag, she headed for the bathroom. Once inside and sitting on the toilet to stop the never-ending dizziness, she rummaged in the bag for ibuprofen tablets, which she took with some water using the glass she found on the counter. The sip of cool water made her aware of a raging thirst so she downed another three glasses, realising that she was seriously dehydrated and desperately needed the fluid. She looked at herself in the mirror. God, she looked dreadful. Her face was pale and her skin looked clammy, her eyes dark and ringed like piss-holes in the snow. She just wished her head would stop hurting.

She hadn't long returned to the bedroom when the door opened and Ginny entered. She was bustling and happy and far too loud for Hermione's liking and she couldn't help but wince when her friend greeted her enthusiastically.

'Merlin, you look dreadful,' Ginny said with a big grin.

'I feel worse,' Hermione croaked as she sat down on her bed. 'I can't decide if I've died and gone to hell or whether I want to die. Where have you been?'

Ginny continued to grin. 'Out having fun . . . like you should have been. I know you said you were a lightweight, but really!'

Hermione shuddered. 'I thought I did bloody well considering you made me start drinking at the crack of dawn and we carried on going until stupid o'clock at night. How the hell did you manage to keep going all night?'

'Stamina,' Ginny replied blithely. 'Well, that and the totally snoggalicious Blaise Zabini.' She winked lewdly. 'Talking of snoggalicious, did Draco catch up with you? He was so angry when he found out you'd left, especially on your own.'

For a moment a vision of her and Draco in bed flashed into Hermione's brain but she hurriedly pushed it away. She didn't want to think of him . . . of what they had done. . . .

Deflecting the question about Draco, she said accusingly, 'What about Harry? How can you carry on like that with Blaise when you're going out with him?'

Ginny laughed. 'I told you, it's just a bit of fun — and what happens in Blackpool stays in Blackpool.' She dumped herself down on her bed. 'Anyway, what do you think Harry's up to? The same as me, I'll bet.'

Hermione looked at her friend unhappily. 'I'm sure they're not. Ron wouldn't—'

Ginny snorted loudly in derision. 'Listen to yourself. What do you think they're doing this weekend? They're not sitting in the Fat Hen drinking pints of beer and playing darts, Hermione. They've gone somewhere in Eastern Europe with Charlie and they're playing with strippers and prostitutes. I'm sorry if that shocks you, but Ron's _not _taking a back seat on this one. He might not actually end up shagging a hooker, but he's sure as hell getting into the rest of it, you can bet your life on that. What we're doing here is tame compared to what they're getting up to.'

'You don't know that,' Hermione said bullishly, but she could feel the tears in her eyes as she thought about Ron and how secretive he had been about his stag do and how enthusiastic he had been about her going to Blackpool. Did he expect her to act the way all her friends suggested she should? Was it his way of assuaging his own guilt for the things he knew he would be doing? For a moment a vision of her and Draco reappeared. She clamped down tight on that memory. That had been a drunken accident and nothing more, and if Draco was any sort of gentleman he would allow her to forget it had ever happened.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you,' Ginny said more gently as she looked at her distraught friend, 'especially with that hangover. I expect you're right. Ron's as big a lightweight as you are. He probably passed out before the strippers even got going.' She grinned at Hermione. 'Are you going to come and get some breakfast?'

The mention of food made Hermione's stomach flip and she could feel the bile rising. She shook her head, although gingerly because it still hurt so much.

'How can you even think about food? Don't you need to sleep?'

'We're going to have a few hours after breakfast,' Ginny told her. 'To be honest I think I'm still drunk so I'm absolutely ruddy starving and so are the twins.' She got up from her bed and moved towards Hermione's. 'Are you sure you don't want to come? You might feel better after you've eaten.'

Hermione groaned miserably. 'I can guarantee eating _definitely_ won't make me feel better. I'm trying not to be sick as it is. I think I just need to sleep it off.'

'I'll try not to wake you when I come back,' Ginny said. 'Oh, we're going to the Pleasure Beach later. We're meeting the guys in that big pub on the corner at two o'clock and then we're going to go and have a laugh.'

Hermione's heart sank at the thought of having to spend yet more time with Draco and his friends, but of course now her friends had paired up with his she was going to have no choice. But that would leave her with Draco and she most definitely did not want to end up anywhere alone with him again. Nor could she face the idea of more alcohol. She had drunk more in one day than she had probably ever done in her entire life before. The fun fair didn't exactly appeal at the moment, either.

'I need to sleep,' she repeated and slid under the covers, pulling them over her head as she curled herself up into a ball.

'See you later,' Ginny said as she left the room, closing the door gently behind her.

* * *

'. . . and did you see Greg Goyle? Hasn't he improved immeasurably since school? Parvati said he's a great kisser.'

Ginny was chatting away, not seeming to notice or care that Hermione was still suffering. Even five hours of sleep hadn't made her feel that much better. She was seriously dehydrated, her head was still banging, not helped by Ginny and her yammering, and now she was feeling hungry and her stomach hurt.

'Are you going to get up today?' Ginny asked. She was drying her hair with a towel. 'We've got to be at the pub in just over forty-five minutes so you'd better look sharp.'

Hermione groaned and fell face-forward on the bed. 'I'm not going,' she said, her voice muffled in the sheets. Ginny looked at her sharply. Hermione shook her head, then managed to sit up enough to look at her friend. 'Honestly, I really can't, Gin. I've still got the hangover from hell and I think I'll throw up if I even smell alcohol at the moment, let alone drink any. I'm sorry, but I just can't go near a pub . . . and you _really_ don't want me on a roller coaster with you when I'm feeling like this.'

Ginny looked at her for a moment, then her face softened. 'I'm sorry, Hermione. I forgot you weren't really into the nightlife and the drinking. You did cane it a bit last night. Maybe we should have gone a bit easier on the shots.'

She disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes. When she came back out her hair was dry and she was holding a small mirror while she put on lip gloss.

'I assume Draco caught up with you, did he?' she asked. 'I can't believe you'd have made it back here on your own. You were all over the place.' Ginny dropped the lip gloss and mirror into a small handbag on her bed, then turned to look at Hermione, who was back under the covers. Ginny put her hands on her hips and glared fiercely at her. 'Why the hell did you leave? I can't believe you went off on your own, especially when you were that drunk. Anything could have happened to you.'

'I was fine,' Hermione replied shortly, but as she said it she remembered the men who had tried to assault her. Now sober, she realised what a dangerous situation she had been in and was able to appreciate just how lucky she had been that Draco had found her when he had, even if things had got badly out of hand afterwards.

'So, did you snog Draco, then?' Ginny asked, her voice salacious. 'Come on, you can tell me. I won't tell a soul, I promise. I won't even tell the others.'

Hermione didn't want to think about Draco as that reminded her of the hours they had spent alone together; but now she remembered the men, delayed shock hit her and she wasn't in the mood for joking around with Ginny.

'It wasn't like that,' she said, her voice tense and low.

Ginny's face was suddenly a mask of worry and she moved to sit on Hermione's bed, having caught the tone of her voice. 'What happened?' she asked quietly, a wave of guilt washing over her as she felt a ball of dread form in her stomach.

She knew she should have taken better care of Hermione, knowing she wasn't used to drinking and wasn't happy about being at the club or the way they had made her dress. Instead Ginny had left her to fend for herself in order to spend time with Blaise, who wasn't even her boyfriend, just a bit of fluff she was having some fun with. She suddenly realised that Hermione's hangover, whilst obviously all too real, was also a good excuse for her friend to not have to face the embarrassment or shame of seeing Draco. Ginny's heart hardened. If Draco had done _anything_ to hurt or embarrass Hermione, she was going to kill him.

'So what happened, Hermione? You can tell me,' she repeated, more seriously this time. 'Did he do something to you?'

Hermione rapidly shook her head, her eyes wide, and Ginny stopped talking. She took Hermione's hand and stroked it gently.

'You were right. I was stupid to leave the club on my own,' Hermione admitted, her voice monotone, her face pale and drawn. Her eyes glistened with tears. 'Especially in that awful outfit.' She stopped for a second, then made a small, bitter noise. 'I was so drunk I could hardly walk, and those bloody shoes didn't help. But I'd just had enough and was pissed off with you all because you wouldn't leave . . . because you were all having too much fun. I just wanted to get back to the hotel and go to bed. But I got lost, couldn't find my way back, and then there was this group of men.' She broke off for a moment and frowned, not wanting to remember but knowing she had to explain to Ginny now she had started talking about it. 'There were four or five of them, I can't remember how many exactly. They started following me and then they were around me — touching me, calling me names, telling me I was begging for it because of the way I was dressed. It was awful. They kept trying to touch my breasts and sticking their hands up my skirt, and I was so drunk I couldn't do anything to stop them. I was having enough trouble trying to stay standing upright. They were trying to take me off somewhere . . . I don't know where, but I don't think it would have been good. But then Draco turned up.'

Ginny, who had been looking horrified at Hermione's story, asked quietly, 'What did he do?'

'He told them to leave me alone. They laughed at him, of course — one bloke on his own against all of them. But fortunately he had his wand with him and so he Stupefied them and then brought me back to the hotel. I was really lucky he turned up, Gin.' She wiped away a tear that had begun to trickle down her cheek.

'Oh, sweet Circe, you poor thing,' Ginny said sympathetically. 'I am _so_ sorry. It's all my fault.'

Hermione shook her head and sighed. 'No, it wasn't. It was mine for being stupid enough to think I could walk home alone dressed like a tart . . . and for not saying no to the shots when I knew I'd had more than enough.'

'Yeah, but we were all forcing you to drink the shots. You said you'd had enough several times and we ignored you,' Ginny pointed out.

'But you didn't realise just how much of a lightweight I really am. Anyway, it was all right. Draco turned up in time and saved me.'

'Well, I hope you at least said thank you to him,' Ginny said.

Hermione squashed down a thought of Draco that was trying to force its way into her mind.

'I did give him a kiss,' she admitted. Under the covers she crossed her fingers. 'Just one, though. I was completely shaken up by what had happened, to be honest. But I was really grateful to him for what he did, so I kissed him. I doubt it was the sort of kiss you were talking about, though.'

'But you kissed him,' Ginny said, trying to keep her excitement reined in. 'And?'

'And what? It was a kiss, to say thank you for stopping me from being assaulted or . . . whatever. That's all it was.'

'I just thought that after the way the two of you were at school. . . .'

Hermione looked exasperated. 'Draco and I do not have some deep, dark unrequited love that needs to be got out of the way before we get married, Gin . . . except in your fevered imagination. We never got on at school and that's all there was to it. And I'd rather you didn't keep going on about it, if you don't mind.'

'Are you sure you don't want to come with us?' Ginny asked, knowing that she needed to change the subject. 'I'll wait for you to get ready, if you like. I feel really bad leaving you here on your own when we're supposed to be celebrating your wedding.'

Hermione shook her head. 'Honestly, I'll feel much better for another few hours' sleep. I might go for a walk later to get some fresh air if I start to feel better, but at the moment I really can't face getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom, let alone anything else. Go and have fun and don't worry about me. I'll be fine.'

'Well, if you're sure,' Ginny said uncertainly, picking up her handbag. 'I really hope you feel better by the time we get back.'

'You and me both,' Hermione said honestly, although she gave her friend a small smile as she shooed her out the door.

* * *

'So what happened with Hermione last night?' Blaise asked as he buttoned up his shirt.

Draco shrugged. 'Not much to tell, really. The bloody idiot thought that walking back to her hotel alone, completely pissed and dressed like every bloke's masturbation fantasy would be a sensible thing to do. By the time I caught up with her she'd picked up a bunch of unwanted admirers who were pretty much one step away from abducting and raping her. Fortunately I had my wand on me otherwise the outcome would have been somewhat different . . . but I hexed the bastards and got her out of there as quickly as possible and took her back to her hotel. There was no funny business involved.'

Blaise looked at him sceptically. 'Are you telling me you didn't use her gratitude for saving her to get your leg over? Come on, Draco, this is you we're talking about.'

'She was so drunk she could hardly stand up,' Draco pointed out. 'And she'd been fairly well manhandled by that time. She just wanted to get back to the hotel and go to bed.'

'You didn't offer to stay and keep her company then, didn't comfort her after her ordeal?' Blaise asked slyly.

Draco sighed. 'She wasn't exactly in the mood for company.'

'Do you honestly expect me to believe that _you_ did nothing?' Blaise said.

'A kiss,' Draco admitted, sounding grudging. 'I got a kiss from her but even that was hard-won. I couldn't even get her to reveal her room number, Blaise; just getting the floor number was hard enough.'

'I'm actually surprised,' Blaise revealed. 'All these years you've fancied her, and you finally had the perfect chance and you didn't take it. Not at all like you, my friend.'

Draco frowned. 'I told you, she was slaughtered. Anyway, I haven't fancied her for years.'

Blaise laughed. 'Yeah, all right, mate, if you say so. Funny how she was the only Muggle-born you ever used to fight with at Hogwarts, the only one you ever had any interest in.'

'That was only because she was Potter's friend. I hated them all, as you well know,' Draco said stiffly.

Blaise grinned. 'Yep, but we both know there was always something there between the two of you, that little frisson that was a bit more than just rivalry or hatred.'

Draco disappeared into the bathroom ignoring the comment. When he came back out a couple of minutes later he said, 'It'll be interesting to see what state Hermione's in today. I think she's going to have a massive hangover. I wonder if she'll be up for the fun fair?'

He rummaged in his hold-all and pulled out a phial. He examined it for a moment, then gave it a good shake before removing the stopper. He swallowed the potion and a small moue of disgust crossed his face.

'She's not the only one, eh?' Blaise said in amusement.

'I'll admit I have felt better,' Draco told him honestly. 'I'm hoping some food will do the trick. I definitely can't even think about alcohol until I've eaten something.'

'I know what you mean,' Blaise agreed. 'We definitely did a good job on the shots last night.'

'Yeah, might have to lay off them a bit today,' Draco admitted. He looked at himself in the mirror. 'Are you ready? I really need to eat. I can hear a massive fry-up calling out my name.'

Blaise paled a little at Draco's words. 'Not sure I can face greasy food,' he admitted. 'I was thinking more like a slice of toast.'

'Nope, kill or cure, mate,' Draco said with a chuckle. 'Either way you'll feel better after a good fry-up.'

'We'll see,' Blaise said uncertainly as he followed his friend out the door.

* * *

'I really can't believe Hermione didn't come with us,' Hannah said as she and the rest of the hen party walked down the road towards the pub. 'She really is pathetic, isn't she?'

Ginny shrugged. 'She looks really ill, poor love. She doesn't drink much and she pretty much kept pace with us last night. It's a wonder she hasn't got alcohol poisoning, actually.'

'I'm going to take a break from alcohol for a few hours today,' Luna said, wincing a little. 'I overdid it last night, too.'

'Didn't stop you coming out, though,' Hannah pointed out tartly.

'Only because I promised Theo I would, otherwise I might not have bothered, either,' Luna admitted.

'Perhaps if she'd got off with Draco last night she'd feel a bit more like coming out. Mind you, she's not exactly the life and soul of the party, is she?' Hannah grumbled.

'Nightclubs aren't really Hermione's thing,' Ginny said, sticking up for her absent friend. 'Draco said we pushed her too far last night with the outfit, the alcohol, and all the flirting and stuff. She was beginning to rebel against it at the end. She went back to the hotel on her own even though she was completely slaughtered. It was lucky he went after her or Merlin only knows what would have happened.'

'So they did have a bit of time alone together, then,' Parvati said with a smile. 'Did nothing happen between them?'

Ginny shook her head, her face grim. 'From what I understand Hermione was pretty lucky that Draco came along when he did. She was getting some trouble off a group of guys because of the way she was dressed and because she was so drunk. He sorted them out and got her back to the hotel before she passed out. No funny stuff, though.'

'Wow, was it really that serious?' Padma asked worriedly.

Ginny nodded. 'She was pretty upset when she told me about it. I think it scared her a bit.'

'I'm not surprised,' Parvati said. 'I'd have been terrified. But what on earth possessed her to leave on her own, especially in that state?'

'Because she'd had enough and none of us were ready to go,' Ginny replied sounding ashamed. 'I felt dreadful when she told me what had happened to her because I'd promised her that after another couple of drinks we would leave, but then I kept dragging it out because I was having too much fun with Blaise. I didn't even think about what she was going through. By the time I realised she had left it was too late, and to be honest I still didn't want to leave. I was happy to let Draco go after her.'

'You didn't know what was going to happen to her, so it wasn't your fault — and it sounds like it was lucky it was Draco that went after her,' Luna told her soothingly. She stroked Ginny's arm. 'Anyway, she was all right so nothing to get upset about. No point in thinking about what might have happened, although I think that combined with her hangover gives her a good enough excuse not to join us.'

'I think she'd throw up if she went on a roller coaster in the state she's in,' Ginny said with a small grin. 'Perhaps staying in now will give her a chance to recover enough to come out with us tonight.'

They entered the busy pub and looked around, searching for Draco and his friends. After a few minutes they spotted them and, waving, made their way over to the table the men were sitting at.

'Hermione told me what you did last night,' Ginny said quietly to Draco after greeting him.

Draco looked surprised. 'Did she? What did she say?'

Ginny smiled. 'That you were her knight in shining armour and saved her from a group of men who were causing her a problem. She said you Stupefied them. Did you?'

Draco's heart had started beating faster at Ginny's first words. He was unable to believe that Hermione had actually shared what they had done last night with her friends. But then Ginny talked about his dealing with the group of animals that had come so close to assaulting Hermione and he realised that she hadn't divulged that most intimate of secrets.

'I did Stupefy them,' Draco admitted. 'I didn't really have any choice. There were too many of them for me to deal with them any other way, and they weren't inclined to be civilised.'

'Was she really in trouble?' Ginny asked.

Draco looked intently at Ginny for a moment, seeing the worry on her face. 'Nothing happened, Ginny. I stopped any potential problems,' he said gently.

'But something could have happened if you hadn't found her in time or if you hadn't had your wand on you,' she insisted.

'But I did, so there's nothing to get upset about,' Draco assured her. 'Hermione was fine, apart from the amount she'd had to drink. I expect she had quite the hangover this morning, didn't she?'

'She's still in bed,' Ginny told him. 'She looks really ill, poor thing. Mind you, I think she drank more yesterday than she's ever drunk in her life. Maybe you were right and we did overdo it a bit.'

Draco smiled. 'She survived, albeit a bit hung over, so it's all good in the end.'

'I'm going to get drinks,' Ginny said. 'Do you want anything?'

Draco waved his hand and indicated the half-full glass of orange juice in front of him. 'No, I had too much as well and am suffering more than I want to let on. No alcohol for me this afternoon, at least not at the moment.'

He watched as Ginny walked towards the bar, then he grabbed Blaise's arm and pulled him aside for a chat.

'I don't think I'm going to bother with the Pleasure Beach this afternoon,' he said casually.

Blaise looked surprised. 'Really? Not your sort of thing?'

Draco shrugged. 'I'm not really fussed about fun fairs either way, to be honest, but with this hangover taking longer to shift than I expected the idea of being jolted around all over the place doesn't really appeal much.'

'You'd have more interest if Hermione was here,' Blaise said sagely.

'I will admit that playing gooseberry with all you lot isn't exactly my idea of a fun-filled afternoon, either. Of course I don't blame you all for pairing off — after all, that's obviously what we came here for — but it would certainly be easier if Hermione were here to make up the numbers,' Draco replied dismissively. 'To be honest, with the prospect of another heavy night ahead I could do with trying to shift the hangover that's still rattling around in my brain. I'm going to take a nice long walk along the beach which should hopefully sort it out.'

'We could ditch the girls and have a lads-only afternoon if you want,' Blaise suggested, trying to be loyal.

Draco laughed. 'Don't be ridiculous, Blaise. Spending a bit of quality time with some lovely women is what we came here for, isn't it? And I know you've had a thing for Ginny for years, so I've no idea why would you want to ditch her when she's actually keen to spend time with you. I'll be fine on my own. You never know, I might even find someone interesting to play with while I'm out and about. Anyway, the walk will do me good.'

'Are you sure?' Blaise asked.

'Of course I am. Go and have fun with Ginny before she runs back to Potter.'

He turned to listen to Greg, who was telling Parvati about a particular roller coaster he was looking forward to going on, describing in exquisite detail the whole course of the ride. Draco felt his stomach roil at the thought of being on a roller coaster. In truth he was feeling quite rough and his head was banging. Going on that sort of ride was the last thing he needed; he would probably throw up and completely embarrass himself. A nice, quiet walk with some vibrant, salty sea air would be just the thing to shift the blasted hangover and give him a chance to work out what he was going to do about Hermione.

He looked around at the group. All of them were looking a little worse for wear — mainly due to the lack of sleep, he supposed — but they all seemed to be handling it well enough and most of them were already back on the alcohol. He had to respect them for that; he certainly wasn't yet up to imbibing. He stood, and not bothering to say goodbye followed Hannah and Alex as they made their way to the bar but then diverted towards the door and opened it.

But before he could leave he felt a hand on his arm, stopping him. He turned to see Blaise grinning at him like the Cheshire cat.

'Room 210,' Blaise said conspiratorially.

Draco just stared at him.

'Ginny and Hermione's room,' Blaise added.

Still Draco said nothing.

'Perhaps you should go and see how the invalid is,' Blaise continued helpfully.

Draco shook his head. 'I don't think so. Ginny said she's feeling pretty rough.'

'As are you,' Blaise pointed out. 'But perhaps you can make each other feel better.' He winked lewdly at his friend.

Draco thought about it for a few seconds. 'How long are you going to be at the fun fair?'

Blaise shrugged. 'I don't know, a couple of hours or so, I expect.' He looked at his watch. 'I suppose we'll be back at the hotel by five thirty, maybe six.'

'Can you make sure you keep the girls away from their hotel until at least six?' Draco asked.

Blaise grinned again. 'I'm sure we can manage that.' He looked interestedly at Draco. 'Are you going visiting, then?'

It was Draco's turn to shrug. 'I'm not sure . . . maybe. I'm definitely going for a walk along the beach first as I still need to clear my head and the walk will do me good but I might drop in and see how Hermione is on the way back. It would just be easier — for her especially, knowing how uptight she is — if I wasn't seen at the hotel by her friends. If I know they won't be back until after six I can make sure I'm long gone by then.'

'After six it is, then,' Blaise agreed. He released Draco's arm. 'Do me a favour, though.' Draco looked at him curiously. 'Make sure you at least have a damn good snog with her, won't you? Don't completely waste the afternoon. You're running out of time.'

'I'll see how it goes,' Draco replied non-committally.

'I don't know why you're stalling,' Blaise said.

'It's not just me involved,' Draco pointed out. 'There's Hermione, too.'

'Well, I think you should just take charge of the situation. Don't give her the option.'

Draco looked amused. 'This is Hermione Granger we're talking about, Blaise, not Pansy. I'd like to keep my balls, if it's all the same to you.'

'You might be surprised,' Blaise said. 'Perhaps that's what she wants . . . or needs.'

Draco laughed. 'What Hermione thinks she wants and what she actually needs are quite likely to be two completely different things. Anyway, I don't know yet if I'm even going to bother going to see her.'

'You'll go,' Blaise said confidently, the Cheshire cat grin back on his face. 'Now you know her room number you won't be able to keep away.'

* * *

Hermione was lying on her bed reading. She had slept for an hour or so after Ginny had left, but knowing she couldn't spend all day asleep she had pulled one of several books she had brought with her from her bag, and after getting another glass of water from the bathroom she settled back on the bed. She was rather glad she had chosen not to go with the others. She wasn't keen on fun fairs anyway and was still feeling a bit too dodgy for riding on roller coasters, although she was actually nowhere near as bad as she had felt earlier. But it was nice to just relax and read for a few hours and this book wasn't anything heavy going so it wouldn't cause her headache to worsen. She could imagine her friends rolling their eyes in exasperation if they could see what Hermione was doing rather than being out with them drinking and "enjoying" her hen weekend, but Hermione was truly content for the first time since they had arrived in Blackpool. She had always been the quiet and sensible one, maybe too sensible sometimes, but this quiet time spent alone with a book was far more her idea of the perfect weekend than drinking herself stupid in loud, smelly nightclubs.

There was a knock on the door. Hermione looked up from her book but she didn't move. A few seconds later the knocking resumed and the door rattled. Hermione replaced her bookmark and closed the book, then rose from the bed. Thinking it was likely to be the cleaner, she walked towards the door, intending to stick her head out to tell them not to bother as the room was still occupied. Instead, she was astonished when she opened the door to discover Draco standing there.

'How are you feeling now?' he asked with a smile.

Hermione didn't know what to say, but inside she was panicking. How on earth had Draco found out her room number? Had Ginny given it to him? Was she aware that he had come to see her? She frowned in annoyance. Just because Ginny thought it was all right to play around behind her boyfriend's back didn't mean Hermione felt the same way. She had already been stupid enough to get caught alone with Draco, and look at what had happened. She pushed the thought of her and Draco in bed together out of her mind before it had a chance to take root.

'Are you going to let me in?' Draco asked mildly.

Hermione gave a brisk shake of her head. 'What are you doing here, Draco?'

'I came to see if you were okay. Ginny told me you were feeling really rough.'

'I am, so please go away,' Hermione said, aware she was being rude but unable to help herself.

'I can help you with that if you let me in,' Draco told her.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. 'Why, what are you going to do?'

'Nothing you don't want me to,' Draco said smugly. 'But I can help you get rid of your hangover. Let me in and I'll show you.'

Hermione shook her head. 'I'm fine as I am, thank you. I was quite happy reading. Anyway, why aren't you with the others?'

'I had a hangover, too. I really couldn't face going on the roller coasters so I decided to go for a walk along the beach instead. It was quite pleasant, actually; rather bracing and windy but it definitely cleared away the cobwebs. I thought I'd pop in on my way back and see how you were doing. Are you really going to make me stand out here? I'd have thought you wouldn't want anyone seeing me.'

'I don't. That's why you should leave, before anyone does see you,' Hermione told him curtly.

'No, I don't think so. I'm just going to sit out here until the others get back,' Draco warned.

Hermione knew he was perfectly capable of doing exactly as he said and he was right, she didn't want anyone seeing him, even if it was only sitting outside her door. That would be more than enough to start the tongues wagging. She sighed and opened the door wider, moving back to allow him entrance.

'I knew you'd let me in eventually,' he said, still sounding smug. He closed the door behind him.

'Only because I had no choice,' Hermione muttered.

Draco laughed. 'Of course you had a choice. Admit it, Hermione, you let me in because you wanted me in here with you.' He moved towards her, reaching his hand out to stroke her face gently. 'You look a bit pale. Was your hangover really bad?'

Hermione took a step backwards but she nodded. 'I thought I'd died and gone to hell. Actually, I'm still not sure I haven't.'

Draco walked over to her bed and picked up the book she was reading. He glanced at the cover. 'Night Watch. What's that about, then?'

Hermione shrugged. 'It's a fantasy book, part of a series. They're quite amusing and a light enough read when you can't concentrate properly.' She pulled the book from his hands and placed it on the bedside table, then added pointedly, 'Muggle, obviously, so probably not your sort of thing.'

'Oh, I don't know. I've read quite a lot of Muggle literature over the last few years. Some of the books have been extremely good.' Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'My views have changed considerably since leaving school, you know, Hermione. I realised all that stuff about Muggle-borns stealing magic was complete crap. One only had to look at you to know that. That got me thinking about all the other rubbish my father had drilled into me and what do you know, that was all complete bollocks as well. I realised there was a whole world out there that I was missing out on, so I went out to learn as much about it as I could. It's a fascinating place, the Muggle world, and it's taught me so much.'

Before she realised what he was doing Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione, pulling her to him and kissing her. She tried to push him away but wasn't very successful.

'Stop it, Draco,' she said tartly once the kiss had finished. 'Let go of me, please.'

'You don't really want me to,' Draco said, his voice more sensual now. 'Let's face it, darling, after last night you want it just as much as I do.'

'I told you, I was drunk last night. There's no way I would have—' Hermione tried to pull away but Draco kept tight hold of her.

'You're right you were drunk . . . and extremely enthusiastic,' Draco pointed out. 'So don't try to give me that old bull about not being interested. I know you think you should say that because of Weasley, but we both know it's not true so let's cut the crap, eh? No one knows I'm here and we both know you enjoyed it last night, so don't pretend you didn't. If it makes you feel better, think of it as a final—'

'Oh for god's sake, don't you _dare_ mention bloody final flings or that crap about what happens in Blackpool staying in Blackpool,' Hermione spat in annoyance.

Draco smiled. 'But it's true. Okay, we won't call it a final fling. Let's just call it a damn good shag.'

'I am not having sex with you again, Draco,' Hermione said. She writhed in his arms, trying to escape. 'So just let me go.'

'Of course you will,' Draco told her pleasantly. 'We both want it and we know it's going to happen, so stop fighting it.' He leant close to her ear and whispered, 'You know how good it feels.'

Hermione sounded exasperated as she shook her head and said, 'I'm not interested and I've got a headache, so please, Draco, just go away,'

'That's all right, the sex will cure that,' Draco said smugly. 'It's clinically proven that sex gets rid of headaches and sorts out hangovers. So we'll be doing each other a favour.'

'You are incorrigible,' Hermione told him waspishly. 'But I still have absolutely no intention—'

'You know I'm right,' Draco whispered, and before she could finish the sentence he kissed her again.

And then Hermione was kissing him back, her willpower as nonexistent and her desire just as strong as it had been the previous night. Kiss after intoxicating kiss followed as Draco pushed her back onto the bed beneath him.

'Nice pyjamas,' he said cheekily during a break between kisses. 'Not quite as sexy as the corset and stockings, but at least I can remove these.'

* * *

Hermione lay in Draco's arms enjoying the feeling of him holding her. He was right, the sex had managed to shift her hangover completely. In fact, she felt wonderful. She turned to look at the clock on the bedside table. It was almost five o'clock. She wondered what time her friends would be back. She didn't want to risk any of them seeing Draco. What they were doing was bad enough without the extra guilt that anyone else finding out about it would bring. Also, she had a feeling that her friends' idea of a final fling probably didn't include full sexual intercourse, especially more than once.

'What's the matter?' Draco asked gently, picking up on her unease.

'Ginny,' Hermione said worriedly. 'If she comes back. . . .'

'She won't be back until six o'clock,' Draco told her confidently.

'You don't know. . . .' She trailed off when she saw Draco's look. 'Blaise?' she asked.

Draco nodded. 'How do you think I knew the room number?'

'I assumed Ginny had mentioned it to you,' Hermione said with a frown.

'No. I told you, no one knows I'm here . . . except for Blaise, and even he doesn't know for sure.'

'Does he know about last night?' Hermione asked worriedly.

'No, he doesn't. I told him you granted me one hard-won kiss to thank me for saving you from those animals. I mentioned nothing about the rest of it. That's purely between you and me . . . as is this. Don't worry, darling, I'll be gone before they get back. I promise.' He kissed the end of her nose.

* * *

'This weekend's turning out to be even better than I thought it was going to be,' Draco said some time later, after another rather frenzied bout of sexual activity. 'It's almost going to be a shame to go home.' He looked at her seriously. 'If your friends are anything like you I imagine the others won't want to leave, either.'

Hermione thought about her friends and how they had all paired up with friends of Draco's. It had all worked out perfectly . . . almost too perfectly, if she thought about it properly.

'Did you know we were coming here?' she asked quietly. 'Was this all planned in advance?'

Draco looked at her curiously for a moment, then shook his head. 'If you're asking did I know in advance that you were going to be in that nightclub dressed like something out of a wet dream, the answer is no. If I had I'd have made damn sure I was better prepared. I still can't believe just how sexy you looked in that outfit. It was immoral.' He grinned at her and winked.

Hermione felt herself blush and said, 'Yes, I got the impression it was quite popular. It certainly got a lot of comments . . . although not all of them were nice.' She stopped and frowned as she thought about the men who had tried to attack her.

'Well I thought you looked spectacular,' Draco said sincerely a moment before he kissed her again. 'However, you won't be going out dressed like that again, at least not unless I'm there to look after you. Then you can dress as wantonly as you want.' His hand trailed down her back, caressing her bottom with gentle, teasing strokes.

'Don't worry, I'll never be dressing that way again,' Hermione assured him primly.

'It seems a shame to keep such a gorgeous body hidden under wraps, though,' Draco said wistfully.

'Well, I can't imagine Ron being very happy about me dressing like that, so it's unlikely to happen,' Hermione said. Her heart thumped harder at the sudden thought of Ron and for a moment she felt guilty at what she was doing with Draco, but strangely not anywhere near as guilty as she had expected to feel . . . as she knew she should feel.

'I always thought there was something wrong with him,' Draco said lazily. 'Are you sure he's not gay?'

'Of course he's not,' Hermione said indignantly. 'Anyway, I understand he's spending the weekend shagging prostitutes and strippers, or so Ginny tells me.' She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice but wasn't sure she succeeded.

'If he can get it up,' Draco said with a smug grin. 'Not everyone has my talent for getting and sustaining an erection whenever it's required.'

'He doesn't have problems in that department, either,' Hermione said tersely.

'And yet I'm still a better shag than him,' Draco said immodestly as he pulled Hermione towards him once more. 'And I do love making you cum,' he whispered.

* * *

'So what are you going to wear tonight if you're not going to give me and the rest of Blackpool a thrill?' Draco asked.

He knew he ought to be making a move to ensure Hermione's friends didn't see him, as he had no desire to upset her by giving away their secret, but at the same time he was enjoying being with her so much that he didn't want to leave.

'Tonight? What's happening tonight?' Hermione looked confused.

Draco shrugged. 'I should imagine that you and your friends will be heading out to get pissed again, probably with my friends in tow . . . and me, too. I'll definitely want to be there if you are.'

Hermione looked faintly sick. 'More drinking . . . oh god, no, I can't do that. I'm going to stay in tonight. I'm sure it will piss everyone off, but I'm really not the hen party type.'

'Do you think they'll let you stay in on Saturday night after coming all this way to celebrate?' Draco asked, grinning with amusement.

Hermione shrugged. 'Eventually. They'll have no choice. Anyway, I'll only make their evening miserable if I go out with them. I honestly can't face any more alcohol and I'm not really into nightclubs, as you know. I'll be ready to come back here after an hour and no one's going to want to come back with me, are they . . . apart from you of course, but that's not possible.'

'Why not?' Draco asked.

'Because then I'll get all the comments again, all the stuff about us having a good snogging session. I'm keen to avoid that.'

'I don't mind having a snogging session with you if it will make your friends happy,' Draco said, smiling wickedly. He kissed her shoulder. 'Is that all they want us to do?'

'Yes,' Hermione said quickly. 'That's all, and that's why I don't want them knowing . . . especially after this afternoon.' She looked at the clock. 'You need to go. It's almost six o'clock.' Draco gave a groan of disappointment. 'You promised,' Hermione said, panic rising in her voice.

Draco squeezed her. 'I know and I will go, although I don't want to.' He kissed her briefly on the lips then slid out of bed and began to put his clothes on. 'So if you're not going out tonight can I come back after everyone's gone out?'

Hermione left the bed, too, pulling on her pyjamas. 'You want to come back? Haven't you had enough?'

Draco wrapped his arms around her. 'I want to make the most of it. We don't have much more time.' He kissed her neck. 'I really enjoy making love with you, Hermione, and I don't want to miss a single opportunity in the short time we have left together.'

Hermione pulled from his arms. 'I should say no, you know.'

'You're not going to, though, are you?' Draco said knowingly. He finished dressing, then sat on Hermione's bed to put on his socks and shoes. He looked at her appealingly. 'Please don't say no.'

Hermione sighed heavily. 'Okay, you can come back if you want.'

'Oh, I definitely want.' Draco looked ecstatic as he stood up. 'I'll see you later, darling,' he whispered happily as he gave her one last hug and kiss.

After Draco left Hermione spent a few minutes in the bathroom making sure there was nothing that could give away what she had been up to all afternoon. It was now more vital than ever that no one discovered her secret. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was actually looking quite healthy now; in fact, she was rather flushed after all that sex. She put some cold water on her face to try to remove some of the redness. She didn't want to look too healthy, otherwise she would find it impossible to argue against going out and she really didn't want to go out tonight. Whilst it was true that she didn't want any alcohol nor did she relish the idea of any more horrid smoky pubs and clubs, the main reason she now wanted to stay in was to spend more time alone with Draco.

She tried to tell herself that the reason she wanted to be with Draco, the reason she didn't feel anywhere near as guilty about what she was doing with him as she should, was because she was angry with Ron for deceiving her over what he was doing on his stag weekend and she was sure that he was probably acting just as badly as she was, as Ginny had said. But the truth was it was purely desire for the blond man, desire that, if she was honest, she had kept hidden away deep inside her like a dirty little secret for almost as long as she had known him. And however she wanted to justify it that desire really was what was driving her to creep around with him behind her friends' backs, although she still wasn't sure why she didn't feel guilty about it.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Ginny returned some twenty minutes later Hermione was lying on her bed reading, thoroughly engrossed in the story once again. Ginny gave her a pained look. It didn't matter where they went or what they did, Hermione really was truly happiest when she was reading. Ginny dumped herself down on the end of Hermione's bed as Hermione put her bookmark in her book and closed it. She looked enquiringly at Ginny.

'So . . . how were the roller coasters?'

Ginny shrugged. 'They were good in the main, although I have to admit I felt a bit ill when we went on the biggest one. Fortunately I think I was still drunk from last night rather than in hangover mode, so I wasn't too queasy, but I don't think you'd have been very happy. You're looking better than earlier, though.'

'I do feel a bit better,' Hermione admitted, 'although it helps not having had to go anywhere near alcohol all day . . . or any strong smells for that matter. My head's still thumping but I'm getting there, slowly. Actually, I'm rather enjoying having a lazy day in bed with my book. It doesn't happen very often so it's really nice.'

'Not exactly hot hen party behaviour, though, is it?' Ginny pointed out. 'If you wanted to read you should have gone to Eastbourne with all the old fogeys.'

'It was _you_ who organised this weekend,' Hermione reminded her friend. 'I never said anything about having a hen weekend in the first place and I certainly wouldn't have included clubbing and drinking if I had been organising it. Do you know there isn't even a proper museum in Blackpool? There's a waxwork museum and the piers and amusement arcades and stuff, but nothing cultural. There is a sea life centre but that's about it.'

'I have to admit we weren't thinking about culture when we planned the trip. We were thinking about having _fun_,' Ginny retorted.

'The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know,' Hermione said, sounding indignant.

'Depends who you are,' Ginny said. '_You_ find all that cultural stuff interesting, so of course you think it's fun trolling round libraries and boring old museums. The rest of us like to have a laugh and think a cheeky seaside holiday with fun fairs and booze is slightly more interesting.'

'But as we're celebrating _my _wedding, surely we should be doing what I want, shouldn't we?' Hermione asked.

'If you'd bothered to organise it,' Ginny told her candidly. 'However, you didn't and the rest of us thought you could do with a bit of livening up for once in your boring life. Talking of which, what are you going to wear this evening? Obviously we were expecting you to wear the bride's outfit again, but I'm guessing after your walk home alone last night you're going to be a bit leery about wearing it. I can understand why. I would probably feel the same way if I'd been through what you experienced, but as you'll be staying with us and _not _wandering off on your own tonight you should be pretty safe if you want to dress up.'

Hermione shook her head. 'I'm not going out tonight.' Before Ginny had a chance to respond she added, 'I'm still not feeling very well and don't want to go near alcohol, and anyway my head's still hurting too much to want to be anywhere near loud music. It makes sense for me to stay in and recuperate.'

'But it's Saturday night,' Ginny insisted. 'You can't stay here on your own on Saturday night. It's the big night of the weekend.'

'If I go out will you do what I want, regardless of what Blaise and the rest of Draco's party want to do?' Hermione asked. She looked accusingly at Ginny.

Ginny looked a little unhappy for a moment but then she nodded and said stiffly, 'Of course. We're here to celebrate your wedding, not Draco's. It was just good to find some people we knew and have a bit of a laugh with them. We're not tied to them, although it's pretty likely we'll bump into them somewhere along the way. It's hard not to when you're down on the Promenade.

Hermione shook her head. 'Not with the evening I'm planning. I told you I don't want to go to a pub and I definitely don't want to go clubbing. I'm thinking we could go to the cinema to watch a film — nothing too loud, though, as I've still got a banging headache — and then get something to eat on the way back to the hotel. No need to dress up in some stupid outfit, no encountering disgusting perverts ready to do god only knows what, and we'll get back at a decent time, get a good night's sleep and then we can go out for the day nice and early tomorrow.'

Ginny looked horrified at Hermione's suggestion. 'You're talking about being back here by midnight or something stupid like that, aren't you?'

Hermione nodded. 'I told you I don't want to go clubbing. I'm sorry but I just don't find it "fun," as you call it. Of course we _could_ go to the club, but as I won't be drinking I'll be bored and will probably start to feel ill again from the smoke and the smell of the alcohol within an hour or so and I'll want to come back to the hotel. So as you've just told me you'll do what I want, we'd come back here anyway.'

'I don't believe you,' Ginny said bitterly. 'After everything we did to arrange this weekend for you and you're acting like a real party-pooper . . . and so ungrateful, too.'

Hermione gave a huge sigh. 'I'm sorry. I really do appreciate what you've all done for me, but this just isn't my idea of fun and is even less so after the amount I drank yesterday. Maybe if I hadn't got quite so drunk last night I wouldn't have been so against going out tonight, but I really do still feel queasy just thinking about alcohol.' She grabbed Ginny's hand and squeezed it. 'Look, I really don't want to ruin your evening but I know I will if I go clubbing with you because I can honestly see it ending up the way I said it would. Why don't you just tell the others that I'm still feeling ropey and not up to an evening out? You can all go clubbing and have fun with Draco's friends as you want to do, and I can stay here and read my book as I want to do. Tomorrow morning I'll have completely recovered from my hangover . . . at least I'd better have done . . . and we can go to the fun fair, the pier, or do whatever you want. With any luck I might even be able to stomach some more alcohol by then. Honestly, Gin, I'm not trying to be difficult about this, just realistic.'

Ginny looked at Hermione for almost a minute without saying anything, then she too gave a loud sigh. 'All right,' she said resignedly as she let go of Hermione's hand. 'I can't believe I'm allowing you to stay in and read on a Saturday night when you should be out partying. You'd better make up for it tomorrow, though.'

'I will, I promise,' Hermione agreed sincerely. 'Whatever you want tomorrow . . . just as long as it doesn't involve that bride's dress or high heels. They nearly crippled me last night.'

'Draco thought you looked really sexy in that outfit,' Ginny said with a grin. 'Apparently he called you a masturbation fantasy.'

Hermione grimaced. 'How delightful. He always did have a way with words. I think that just confirms that I shouldn't be going out in public dressed like that.'

'Well, I think he'll be disappointed that you're not going to be coming out tonight.'

'Why?' Hermione looked at Ginny curiously.

Ginny shrugged. 'I think he's feeling a bit of a gooseberry with everyone else paired off. He didn't go to the Pleasure Beach this afternoon, either. He went for a walk along the beach on his own instead. Blaise said he had a pretty bad hangover, too, but he seemed all right to me. I think he just felt a bit left out with the odd number of people.'

'Oh. Well, I'm sorry I wasn't there to make up the numbers,' Hermione retorted shortly. 'But didn't it occur to any of you that I might not want to just pair up with Draco by default? We weren't exactly best friends at school, were we? I know he's obviously changed for the better but that still doesn't mean I necessarily want to be stuck with him all weekend just because you've all gone off with his mates. And considering it's his stag weekend, too, it's not really fair what his friends are doing to him, either, is it?'

'Blaise said he told them to go ahead. They did offer to stay with him rather than go with us. And with regards to the two of you pairing up, I thought maybe a bit of time with him would bury your demons.' She raised her hands placatingly as Hermione went to say something. 'Don't worry, I know, you don't want to snog him or have a final fling or anything, but I just always thought there was more to your fighting than pure hatred. Sometimes it seemed more like the affectionate bickering that you and Ron have going on. I was obviously wrong, so I'll stop pushing.'

'I do feel a bit sorry for him, actually,' Hermione said. 'I wouldn't want to be stuck on my own with all you lot paired off . . . but I'm still not coming out.'

Ginny stood up and went into the bathroom. When she returned a few minutes later she looked at Hermione's pyjamas. 'What are you going to do about dinner?' She frowned. 'Have you actually had anything to eat today?'

Hermione shook her head. 'No, I've been feeling too ill. I haven't even really got out of bed except to go to the bathroom. I've just been drinking water. I do feel quite hungry but I'm worried it will make me feel sick again. I really don't want a relapse, not when I've just started to feel a bit better.'

'Well, you need to eat something, Hermione. If you really can't face getting dressed and going out at all, why don't you order something from room service? I bet it will make you feel better. It probably would have done earlier.'

'I honestly couldn't face anything earlier,' Hermione said grimacing. 'What are you doing for food?'

'I think we're just going to grab a burger on the way to the pub. Nothing fancy. You could come with us if you want, then come back here afterwards.'

Hermione shook her head. 'No. I'm feeling really lazy and can't be bothered to get dressed. I will take a look at room service later, though.'

Ginny picked up the menu from the table and threw it at Hermione and then began to get changed. 'Here, you can look at it now. Just make sure you eat something, won't you?'

'Yes, Mum,' Hermione said with a grin as she picked up the menu.

'You're lucky it's just me telling you and that my mother _isn't_ here,' Ginny told her. 'Not only would she have forced you to get up and have a full cooked breakfast this morning on the kill-or-cure principle, then she would have made you go for a nice bracing walk like the one Draco went on _and_ she would insist that you have a big dinner to set you up for the evening even if you weren't going out. Sometimes I think she's only truly happy when people are eating.'

Hermione, who had been studying the menu, laughed. 'All right, point taken. I'm going to order a lasagne.' She leant over to pick up the phone and placed the order, then looked back at Ginny, who was sitting on her bed buckling up some high-heeled sandals. 'You can stop worrying about me now. I'm not going to drop dead of starvation.'

Ginny stood up and looked at herself critically in the mirror, smoothing down her dress.

'You look great,' Hermione said. 'Where are you going tonight?'

Ginny moved back to the table, rummaging in her makeup bag for lipstick and mascara.

'We're starting at the pub we met in earlier. Then we're going to have a bit of a pub crawl. I think we'll probably end up at Syndicate, the club we were at last night. It closes later than anywhere else as it's open until six.'

'So what time are you going to be back, then?' Hermione asked casually.

Ginny chuckled. 'Way past your bedtime, Miss Boring. Don't bother waiting up for me as I expect it will be about the same time as this morning. If beautiful Blaise is up for it we'll keep going all night.'

'And if he isn't?' Hermione asked, trying not to sound anxious. She wasn't sure whether she had succeeded or not.

Ginny laughed again. 'Oh, believe me, that boy's got _lots_ of stamina.' She turned and winked at Hermione. 'There's no way we'll be leaving that club before closing time . . . at least not to come back to the hotel.' She looked at herself in the mirror once more. 'What do you think? Do you think he'll be impressed?'

'I think he's going to be very happy when he sees you,' Hermione said honestly. 'You look fantastic.'

Ginny did a twirl, then gave a little bow. 'Thank you,' she said, obviously pleased at the compliment. 'I think I'm just about ready. Are you sure you don't want to come, even just for a little while?'

Hermione shook her head. 'I've got my lasagne coming shortly and I'm perfectly happy in my pyjamas. Anyway, I've got a story to finish.'

'What happens if you finish reading it? You're not going to get bored, are you?' Ginny asked.

'I've got more in my bag,' Hermione admitted.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'Only you would come to Blackpool for a hen weekend and bring books, and not just one book. What on earth did you think we were going to be doing all weekend that would give you the opportunity to read, Hermione?'

Hermione shrugged. 'I always carry books, just in case.'

'Yeah, one, in case of emergency,' Ginny said. 'But no more than that. Not when you're expecting to be going out and having a good time. At least no _normal_ person would.'

There was a knock on the door. Ginny grabbed her handbag and walked towards it.

'Don't get too over-excited by your book,' she said.

Hermione stuck her tongue out at her. 'Just go out and get pissed and stop nagging me.'

Ginny opened the door. 'Hermione's not coming out tonight,' she told the women who were waiting outside the door. 'She's still suffering and is threatening to make us go to the _cinema_ if we force her to go out. I vote we leave her here while we go and have fun with the guys. On the bright side, she has faithfully promised to get back in the game tomorrow if we let her off tonight.'

She turned and waved at Hermione, as did the others, who all stuck their heads through the doorway to look at her.

'Remember, don't bother to wait up for me,' Ginny said.

As she closed the door Hermione heard her say, 'No, she really is ill. She hasn't had anything but water today. I told her she needs to eat. . . .'

Hermione looked at the clock. It was almost seven thirty. Her food would be arriving shortly and she was more than ready for it now. For a moment she wondered whether Draco really was going to come to see her again or would end up spending the night with his and her friends. She was sure he would come. He seemed as eager as she was, although she had done her best to try to cover her interest. She got up at the knock on the door, opening it to accept a tray containing her food. She closed the door and went to sit at the table.

What excuse was Draco going to give this evening for not going to the club with them? Surely his friends would wonder what he was up to if he kept disappearing for hours on end. She thought briefly of his friends. Okay, so maybe most of them wouldn't, but she was sure Blaise would. And Draco had said that Blaise had been the one to give him her room number so he had to suspect something, just as Ginny had quite clearly realised there was that little something between them. Ginny and Blaise had obviously discussed it. But was it really that obvious? Hermione didn't think it was because she hadn't even realised herself until they were at the club last night, but maybe subconsciously they had given something away over the years.

With her stomach rumbling as she smelt the meat, herbs, and tomato sauce in the pasta mixed with the cheese, she took a spoonful of the lasagne and a small sound of joy erupted from her as she tasted it. It was really good and just what her body needed. She was absolutely ravenous now, more hungry than she could ever recall being before. Perhaps Ginny was right. Maybe if she had eaten earlier she would have felt better much more rapidly. But the fact remained that she hadn't been able to face eating before now, and if she had been well enough to go out this afternoon she and Draco wouldn't have. . . .

The problem was that she and Draco _shouldn't _have done anything, especially not the things they had done that afternoon, things she was pretty sure were going to happen again if he turned up later. She thought about Ron and what he might possibly be up to, and for the first time she didn't immediately try to blow away the image.

'I really hope you're having fun, wherever you are, Ronald,' she said quietly to the empty room.

Finished with her dinner now, Hermione returned to the bed and picked up her book after checking the clock once more. She had no idea what time Draco would manage to get to her but there was no point in her getting stressed out while waiting. She lay back on the bed and opened her book and began to read once more. 

* * *

When Blaise arrived back at the hotel Draco was already there, lying on his bed with his hands behind his head and a smug look on his face.

'You're looking awfully pleased with yourself,' Blaise said as he dropped onto his own bed. 'You had a good afternoon, I take it?'

Draco gave a single slow nod. 'I did. It was most entertaining.'

'You went to see Hermione, then?' Blaise grinned. 'Anything you want to share with your best mate?'

'I went for a lovely long walk along the seafront and it completely killed my hangover. I feel really alive, full of beans and raring to go tonight,' Draco said infuriatingly.

'Yeah, great,' Blaise said disgruntled. 'So, what about Hermione?'

Draco shrugged. 'What about her?'

'You went to see her, right?' Blaise pushed.

'I did pop in briefly on the way back,' Draco conceded.

'And?' Blaise was almost shouting in frustration.

'Ginny was right, she wasn't at all well. She really is a major lightweight.'

'Did you do anything?'

'She wasn't really in the mood for visitors,' Draco said with a sigh.

'So is that a no, then?' Blaise looked carefully at Draco as he attempted to work out whether or not his friend was telling him the truth.

'Well, we talked for a short while . . . mainly about Muggle literature. That's what she's spent the day doing, sleeping and reading. But she made it patently clear that I was interfering with her reading so I thought I'd leave her to it.'

'You know, I'm not sure I believe you,' Blaise said musingly. 'There's quite clearly an interest, on your part at least, and I've never known you to be so reticent about getting what you want.'

Draco chuckled. 'I told you, mate, we're dealing with Hermione here and she's a real hellion when she gets riled. Believe me, if you'd seen the state of her this afternoon you wouldn't have tried to get her to do anything either. Backing off and letting her read was definitely the best option. Anyway, I've got more important things to think about. I've wasted enough time on her. I need to get cracking on finding some more acquiescent company this evening, otherwise I'll be the only one who didn't get to have any fun this weekend and that would be a terrible waste and a very depressing way to head into my wedding.'

'I still think you should just go for it with Hermione,' Blaise said. 'What's the worst she's going to do, slap you?'

'If she's got her wand with her she'll probably hex me,' Draco told him.

'You're the only one carrying your wand around this weekend,' Blaise retorted. 'Everyone else has "gone Muggle".'

'Well it's a bloody good thing I was carrying it last night,' Draco reminded him with a scowl. 'Otherwise Merlin only knows what would have happened with those blokes who were attacking Hermione.'

'Yeah, all right, that was fortunate,' Blaise conceded. 'But I still don't think Hermione will be carrying her wand. You want to wait until she's not expecting it, then grab her and give her a good snog. I bet she won't react the way you think she will, especially now she's sobered up. She's got to have realised that you saved her from a really nasty situation last night, and I bet she's feeling guilty for not showing her appreciation before. That's probably why she was so snippy with you earlier — she didn't want to admit that she wanted you to come on to her.'

'Well, it's a moot point anyway, because we're never going to find out,' Draco said. Blaise looked at him questioningly. 'Little Miss Bookworm informs me she has no intention of going out tonight. She intends to spend the evening reading in her hotel room, and I think she's serious.'

'Ginny and the others will never let her get away with that, surely? They're here celebrating her wedding. They can hardly let the star player stay in on Saturday night,' Blaise said.

'Don't you believe it. I think once Hermione makes up her mind she's pretty immovable.'

'I think Ginny would give her a run for her money, though,' Blaise pointed out. He thought for a few seconds, a wicked smile crossing his face. 'Now there's a fight I'd like to see — Hermione and Ginny. Girl on girl catfight, no holds barred. I reckon we could charge money for that.'

'Hermione would win,' Draco said confidently. He too was grinning as he pictured the scene Blaise had just described.

'Oh, I don't know about that. Ginny's got all those brothers she's fought with over the years. Hermione's an only child, isn't she? And we're not talking about the use of magic or intellect here, just a bit of slapping and scratching with some hair-pulling thrown in for good measure . . . preferably in jelly or maybe even mud . . . with not many clothes on,' Blaise mused.

Draco laughed loudly. 'Hermione's tenacious, though,' he advised. 'If she thought it would get her a quiet evening of reading she'd go all out to win, whatever the odds.' He paused, then added, 'I'd like to think the others can convince her she needs to party tonight, although sadly I don't think that fantastic outfit she was wearing last night would make another appearance even if she did. But I honestly think she's just going to refuse point-blank to go, and eventually they'll give up on her.'

'Well, how about paying her another visit if she doesn't come out?' Blaise asked.

Draco shook his head and said dismissively, 'No. To be honest, I'm not much bothered about Hermione any more. There are lots of other lovely young women in Blackpool and I'm sure plenty of them would be more amenable to a bit of fun, so that's what I'm going to concentrate on. My goal for tonight is definitely to get laid, and I don't think being anywhere near Hermione Granger is going to achieve that.'

'Could be your loss,' Blaise said.

'How do you figure that?' Draco asked curiously. 'It's a no-brainer, really. Either I can have another evening busting my balls with the uptight and most definitely not forthcoming Miss Goody-Two-Shoes Granger or I can enjoy wanton and with any luck incredibly lewd behaviour with another, as yet unknown young lady. I know which one I would rather spend the night with. I really am all about the shagging tonight, Blaise.'

'And what about afterwards, when you've still got that itch for Hermione?' Blaise asked.

Draco shrugged his voice still dismissive as he said, 'I told you, I'm not all that fussed about her, but there's always tomorrow should the urge strike. Even she can't stay in her room all weekend, can she?' 

* * *

Draco had been searching for a likely-looking patsy ever since they left the first pub, but so far he hadn't been too successful. As he had told Blaise, there was a plethora of women ready and willing to spend the evening with him; that was something he had never had any trouble with. But finding one who wasn't going to insist that he stay with her all night, or who wasn't going to end up at Syndicate after he had gone to join Hermione, wasn't quite so easy. He supposed he could come clean with Blaise, knowing that his best friend would be more than happy to help him slip away and back to the comfort and pleasure of Hermione's tender arms, but he had promised her that what they were doing would remain a secret between the two of them and whilst he was pretty sure Blaise wouldn't say anything he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, especially when his friend was fooling around with Weasley's sister. Even though Ginny and Blaise were playing a pretty dangerous game themselves, considering her relationship with Potter, Draco still couldn't risk Weasley somehow finding out what his beautiful bride-to-be had been up to during her hen weekend.

'Where are we going next?' he asked dully, not really interested.

'There seems to be a bit of discussion going on about that,' Blaise said. 'It seems that half the group want to go to some seventies disco down the road, the others are talking about going to some drag club.'

Draco wrinkled his nose. 'Is this really what we're reduced to? What are you going to do?'

Blaise shrugged and grinned. 'Whatever Ginny wants, I expect.'

'Well, I vote the seventies disco,' Draco said. 'I don't think I'm going to have much luck picking up a decent shag at a drag club, and I'm definitely not interested in a transsexual.'

Blaise looked hugely relieved. 'It's your stag weekend, so we do what _you_ want. I'll go and tell the others we're going to the disco.'

He headed off to give the decision as Draco finished his drink. He looked at his watch. He knew he had all night with Hermione as Blaise wouldn't let Ginny go until after Syndicate closed, but he wanted to be with her now, kissing and touching her. He wanted to resume the intimacy that had become so completely addictive he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do when they had to go back to their real lives on Monday and return to their respective partners. He glanced around the bar again. There was definitely no one here who would be suitable for his purposes. Perhaps he would have more luck at the disco.

'Are you ready? We're going to some seventies place,' Greg said as he shook Draco's shoulder, pulling him from his search. 'I think the girls wanted to go to the drag club. Seems a bit odd to me, wanting to go and see a load of men dressed as women.'

'Maybe we'll go there later if this disco thing isn't any good,' Draco said as he followed his friends towards the door. 'Let's just hope we don't have to dress in seventies fashion to get in,' he added with a shudder.

But they didn't have to dress up to get in, although plenty of the clientele had. Draco had to admit he was rather enjoying watching women in very short miniskirts and long boots dancing to music that he was actually quite happy listening to. He found himself talking to Theo and Luna for almost the first time that weekend as the couple were taking a break from their all-out snogging sessions to watch the dancers almost as avidly as he was. Luna actually joined in with the dancing a few times and Draco thought she suited the seventies image extremely well.

'Are you a bit bored?' she asked him, more bluntly than he had ever heard her talk before, when Theo went to the bar to get more drinks for them. She had noticed Draco looking at his watch again.

Draco shook his head. 'No. I think this is better than the pub, and I'd definitely rather be here than at the drag club.'

'Yes, that's a bit of an odd choice, isn't it?' Luna said. She looked round then added, 'It's a shame Hermione couldn't come out tonight. I'm sure you'd have been more interested then.'

Draco shrugged. 'I'm not sure it would have made much difference, to be honest, Luna. We're not exactly best friends, and I don't think she was happy about being paired up with me by default. This weekend is the first time I've seen her since leaving school.'

'Really? Well, yes, I suppose that's true. And you did argue a lot at school, didn't you?' Luna said musingly. She held out her hand for a bottle as Theo returned with Hannah, Alex, Blaise and Ginny following close behind. It's a real shame, though,' she continued, her voice as dreamy as ever. 'I think you'd make such a lovely couple.'

'Who would make a lovely couple?' Ginny asked curiously.

'Hermione and Draco,' Luna replied as if it was obvious. 'They're perfect for each other, actually. They always have been.'

Hannah sniggered loudly. 'What are you talking about, you daft bitch? They hated each other at school. We all remember _that_, surely?'

'And it hasn't changed much, has it, even though we hoped it might,' Alex added. 'Hermione's done pretty much everything she can to keep away from Draco this weekend.' He glanced at the blond man who was frowning at his comment and winced a little as he raised his hands. 'Sorry, mate, but she has. You've got to admit that.'

Draco shrugged and said dismissively, 'I hadn't really taken it all that personally, to be honest. I thought she just wasn't very well after overdoing it yesterday. But I can understand her reluctance to get stuck with me as a default partner after how things were between us back at school. I don't blame her for that.'

Luna nodded sagely and looked at Draco. 'I don't think she would have been Ronald's girlfriend if you hadn't argued with her so much,' she said. She put her head on Theo's shoulder and gave an expressive sigh. 'Still, it's probably for the best that Hermione hasn't come out with us tonight, with you both getting married to other people next week. It would be an awful time for you to realise you were in love with each other, wouldn't it?'

Draco looked at her in astonishment but before he could say anything, Ginny snorted with laughter.

'You've got to be joking, Luna. Hermione's been in love with my brother since the first time she met him — and he with her — although they'd both probably try to contest that if you asked them. There's never been anyone else for either of them, not really. I know we've all been winding Draco and Hermione up about this secret desire they have for each other but I think we're all well aware that there's never been any love lost between them, really, and it was just that . . . a wind-up.'

Luna stared at Ginny for a moment. 'Well, I'm sure you're right,' she said mildly, but she turned and stared at Draco far more intently.

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable under the strange woman's gaze, Draco turned away to look at the dance floor again. His eye was immediately drawn to a couple of new dancers, a pair of pretty blonde identical twins dressed in seventies-style hot pants, cropped halter-neck tops, and platform shoes, who were obviously enjoying themselves immensely. Eager not to get caught up in conversation with Luna any further, he headed towards them and soon joined them in dancing. The Muggle girls, Alison and Andrea as he had soon discovered their names were, lived quite close to Blackpool and, as they told him when the three of them headed for the bar, where Draco bought them expensive cocktails that he was already considering a useful investment, liked to spend their Saturday nights at this particular club. They were sexy, sassy, and definitely up for a few drinks and a bit of a laugh with the handsome blond man who was happy to shower them with whatever they wanted. Best of all, he soon discovered that they never went to Syndicate as they weren't keen on the music played there and felt it was too touristy.

Draco's heart soared. He knew his friends weren't going to want to stay at this club much longer, they were really only killing time until Syndicate got going; but he could stay here with the twins until the coast was clear and then he would finally be free to go and be with Hermione. He turned up the charm — dancing, flirting, and joking with the girls; drink after drink aiding in his seduction and before long he was kissing and cuddling them, holding onto both, favouring both equally. They had been joined on the dance floor by several of his friends, all of whom were interested in meeting Draco's new companions.

'So are the three of you coming to Syndicate?' Blaise asked after he handed over a set of shots to the trio.

Alison shook her head. 'Can't stand that place. The music's much better here.'

'But it stays open longer,' Blaise pointed out.

Alison shrugged. 'We're not fussed about that. There's plenty of other things to do once the club shuts.'

She looked at Draco and winked at him. Draco smiled and pulled her closer, planting a kiss on her cheek. Andrea moved closer to him, too, wrapping her arms around his waist so they were both draped over him.

'We don't need clubs to have fun,' Andrea said silkily. She studied Blaise appraisingly for a moment. 'You could always join us. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.'

Blaise shrugged apologetically and gestured towards Ginny, who was standing at the bar with the Patil twins.

'Already taken, I'm afraid,' he said with a grin. 'Anyway, I'm sure Draco's got it covered. Just make sure you're gentle with him, ladies. He's getting married next weekend and his fiancée wants him back in one piece.'

Alison giggled and stroked Draco's face. 'Don't worry, pretty boy, we'll take good care of you. Won't we, Andrea?'

'We most certainly will,' Andrea confirmed with a smile, and she leaned in to give Draco a kiss.

'I take it that means you're staying here?' Blaise asked when Draco finally came up for air.

'What do you think? Of course I am. There's nothing for me at Syndicate,' Draco answered salaciously. He gave the twins a squeeze, and they both squealed happily.

'I just want a quick word with Draco before I leave him to your tender mercies, ladies,' Blaise said. He pulled at Draco's arm and the women unwrapped themselves, allowing him to move away from them so he and Blaise could talk privately.

'Are you going to take them back to the hotel?' Blaise asked, sounding serious.

Draco shook his head. 'Nope. I don't know where we're going yet, but our room isn't it. It's all yours if you want it.'

Blaise looked at him shiftily. 'Ginny and I are just having a bit of fun.'

Draco grinned. 'That's cool. But if you feel the urge for a bit of privacy the room's all yours. Let's face it, you can hardly go back to her hotel with Hermione there.'

'Are you going to be all right with those two?' Blaise asked.

Draco laughed loudly. 'Of course I will. Don't you worry about me. I can guarantee I'm in for a fantastic night.'

'Only you would pull twins,' Blaise said, sounding impressed. 'And blonde twins at that. That's got to be every bloke's fantasy, isn't it?'

Draco shrugged. 'I'll see you for breakfast. Enjoy Syndicate; don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

He returned to Alison and Andrea and wrapped his arms around the girls' waists as Blaise joined the rest of the stag and hen party.

'How about some champagne to really get the party started?' he suggested, and sending the girls off to find somewhere to sit he made his way to the bar, waving goodbye to the rest of the group as they headed off to the next nightclub.

Draco watched the group carefully as they left, then checked his watch again. It was almost ten thirty, not late considering that the others would be gone all night but more than late enough for him. He was acutely aware that his remaining time with Hermione was inexorably ticking away and he didn't want to waste any more of it than he had to. But the twins were such sweet creatures and in other circumstances he would have been more than happy to spend the night with the pretty girls so he didn't really want to upset them. He would need to handle this carefully to ensure that he got away without making them feel used. He turned back to the bar, raising his money to indicate that he wanted serving. A few minutes later he joined the twins, who had found a table, with a bottle of champagne and three glasses in his hands. He sat down, smiling, and poured them all drinks.

'Are you sure you didn't want to go with your friends?' Alison enquired mildly. She and her sister looked amused as they sipped their drinks.

Draco shook his head. 'Why would I want to do that? That Syndicate place doesn't hold any interest for me. This is a much better club; the music's actually worth listening to and I have to say the company is far superior.'

'And yet you don't want to be here, either,' Andrea said astutely. Draco opened his mouth, about to contradict her automatically but before he could say anything she added, 'You've been looking at your watch every ten minutes since you started talking to us, Draco, so you've obviously got somewhere else you need to be. The fact that you were so eager to get rid of your friends and were making your interest in us clear says that you don't want them to know what it is you're up to.'

Draco had the decency to look a little abashed at her comment, but the twins just laughed.

'So why are you trying to get away from your friends?' Alison asked interestedly.

'I just wanted to spend some time with someone. . . .' He broke off, debating what to say, then shrugged. 'My friends would all make some big drama out of it if they knew. Anyway, they all wanted to go to Syndicate for the rest of the night and it _really_ isn't my sort of place. It was easier to let them think I'd pulled such beautiful women so they wouldn't feel guilty for going off and leaving me on my own. I honestly am sorry that I led you on, although to be fair, at any other time I would be more than happy to spend as much time as I could with the two of you.'

'As I said, we knew you were up to something,' Andrea said with a smile. 'But you were nice enough to buy us lots of lovely drinks so we weren't too bothered, and you are a pretty boy so we didn't mind the kisses, either. So who's the lucky girl, then? Is it your fiancée?'

Draco looked surprised. 'Why would you think it was my fiancée?'

Alison chuckled. 'You'd be surprised at the number of men who actually spend their stag weekends with their other halves. Sometimes it's because they got caught out and the girl's keeping an eye on them, but sometimes they just want to be together. But that's not very staggish, is it, spending the weekend with your loved one, so they get all crafty like you and start pretending to their friends that they're doing other things.'

'So if it's not your fiancée, who is she?' Andrea asked. 'I assume it _is_ a woman. You're not having some illicit liaison with a man to try to get it out of your system before you get married?'

Draco looked momentarily affronted. 'It's definitely _not_ a man, and it's not my fiancée, either. It's someone I've known for a long time but we'd never really . . . anyway, she's getting married next weekend, too, and we just sort of . . . the women with my friends are her friends on her hen weekend.'

'So where is she tonight, then?' Alison enquired.

'She wasn't feeling well earlier so she decided to stay in tonight.'

'And none of your friends realise that you and she have become intimate?' Andrea asked. 'I assume from your manner that the two of you have spent some time alone together previously.'

'Last night and this afternoon,' Draco admitted. 'Neither her friends nor mine are any the wiser. They all know we kissed — once, last night — but that's all. They certainly have no idea that we. . . .' He broke off again, feeling he shouldn't be admitting to the twins what he and Hermione had been doing all weekend.

'Twice in one day? You are eager,' Andrea said with a wink. 'And you say this is someone you've known for years? Have you considered the fact that maybe she should be your fiancée rather than the woman you're actually marrying?'

'Are you regretting the fact that you're both getting married next week?' Alison asked almost immediately afterwards, not giving Draco a chance to answer the first question.

He thought about it for a moment as he sipped his champagne. 'Yes,' he admitted.

'Which question was that the answer to?' Alison asked.

'Both of them,' Draco said firmly. 'I very much wish that she was my fiancée, and I wish we weren't getting married to other people next week.'

'So what are you going to do about it?' Andrea asked.

'What can I do?' Draco shrugged. 'The weddings are already long arranged and there are lots of issues involved with our relationship, going back many years . . . there's a lot of history there. I guess this weekend is just one of those final flings.'

'Well, you can't marry your fiancée if you don't love her. That's not very fair to her,' Alison pointed out.

Draco gave a dark chuckle. 'It was never going to be that sort of marriage. Love doesn't really come into it.'

The twins looked at him curiously.

'Why are you getting married, then?' Alison asked.

'It seemed like a good idea at the time,' Draco said dismissively. 'My parents wanted me to settle down and get married. One bride was as good as the next, and as we get on reasonably well and there was no one else I was interested in, at least so I thought, she seemed like the ideal candidate.'

'Until you got together with . . . whatever this other one's called,' Andrea said.

'Hermione. Her name's Hermione.'

'Another interesting name. So what about the bloke she's marrying?' Andrea pressed.

Draco shrugged. 'She's been in love with him for years, for pretty much all the time we were at school.'

'And yet she slept with you the week before her wedding, and not just once either, from the sound of things,' Andrea pointed out. 'Did the two of you have a thing at school, too?'

'No. We hated each other at school. We were always arguing,' Draco admitted, shaking his head.

'Ah!' Andrea intoned sagely. She and her sister looked knowingly at each other.

'What does that mean?' Draco asked a little more sharply than he meant to.

'The old hidden passion thing,' Alison said, as if it was obvious. 'Long-repressed desires let loose on your final weekend of freedom.'

'It isn't like that,' Draco retorted.

'No?' Alison asked. Neither of the twins looked convinced. 'What, so it's a complete fluke that you both just happen to have a sudden need to shag each other senseless just when you're about to get married to other people, is it? I don't think so. You obviously had it hot and heavy for each other at school and never did anything about it.'

'I can assure you that we both hated each other at school. There was never any chance of us ever being a couple, even if she hadn't been so hung up on that prat she's marrying.'

'So you think he's a prat. Did you think he was a prat when you were at school?' Andrea asked slyly.

'I've always thought he was a prat,' Draco growled, 'him and his best mate. They and Hermione all went round together and I thoroughly detested all three of them.'

'Are you sure you didn't hate them because they were close to Hermione?' Alison enquired gently. 'You might not have realised at the time that was the reason you hated them, but it sounds to me like it could be jealousy.'

'You don't understand and I can't explain it,' Draco told her, his voice a few degrees colder now. The twins looked at him sharply. He gave a loud sigh. 'As I said, there's a lot of history and not all of it good, and I definitely can't talk about it.' He took a sip of his champagne. 'In fact, if I'm honest, most of it was utter crap. I hated her for a really pathetic reason and it took until way after we left school for me to realise my mistake. By that time I hadn't seen her for years. This weekend is the first time we've actually met up since leaving school, and that _is_ a complete fluke.'

'But as you said, you realised you'd made a mistake with her years ago. Perhaps deep inside you knew you fancied her, but you repressed it, and because you'd had no contact with her it lay dormant until you saw her again. When you did those repressed feelings couldn't stay inside any longer, especially knowing that in a week's time there would be nothing you could do about it,' Andrea explained.

Draco looked sceptical, but inside he could feel that her words had a ring of truth to them. Was it possible that he had fancied Hermione at school? He had spent so much time detesting her for being Muggle-born and being a friend of Potter that he had never bothered to analyse his finer feelings about her, had just directed his hatred in her direction. But Blaise had been right when he said that she was the only one Draco ever fought with, the only Muggle-born he had ever had any interest in.

'It helped that she was dressed like something out of a porn film last night — all corsets and stockings in pure virginal white. I know for a fact I wasn't the only one who was interested in her.'

'But you're the one she chose,' Alison pointed out.

Draco frowned. 'I'm not sure that's right, though.' He took another sip of his champagne. 'I rescued her from a nasty situation last night and I used that to take advantage of her. Plus she was completely slaughtered.'

'But you saw her again today,' Andrea countered.

'And she wants you to go back again tonight,' Alison reminded him. 'That wouldn't have happened if she didn't want it as well. Let's face it, if you'd taken advantage of her when she didn't want it she would have run a mile screaming blue murder, not be inviting you back again and again.'

'That's what all your fighting at school was about,' Andrea said a touch smugly. 'It was covering up the fact that even though you had those massive differences that caused you to hate each other, really you fancied the pants off each other.' She grinned and picked up the bottle, pouring more champagne into all their glasses.

Draco thought about how reluctant Hermione had been to allow him into her room earlier that afternoon and wondered whether the twins might be mistaken. But the fact was that Hermione had enjoyed everything they had done just as much as he had, and the twins were right: she had agreed to him visiting her for the night knowing full well what would happen between them if he took her up on her offer. So perhaps there was some truth to it.

'So what do you suggest I should do?' Draco asked quietly.

'What do you want to do?' Andrea looked at him intently.

Draco sighed. 'I don't know.'

'Well, that's not true,' Alison retorted. 'You know what your heart truly desires, Draco.'

'But I don't know what Hermione wants,' Draco told them.

'Well, there's only one way to find that out,' Andrea pointed out. 'Although, granted, you're cutting it a bit fine with the weddings being next week. But then if you both feel the same way. . . .'

They sat there for a minute or so while Draco thought about what the twins had told him. They watched him, seeming content to say nothing.

'You know, if it wasn't for Hermione I really would have loved to spend the rest of the night with you both,' Draco told them honestly. 'You really are wonderful girls, and once again I apologise for what I did.'

'Will you buy us another drink before you go?' Alison asked cheekily.

Draco smiled. 'Will champagne do?'

'Of course it will,' Andrea said returning the smile with interest.


	4. Chapter 4

'Look at you up and raring to go this morning,' Ginny said in amusement. She had only been back a few minutes and was sorely in need of some sleep. She looked at Hermione who looked relaxed, rested, and extremely happy. She was up and dressed and clearly ready for the day ahead.

'My hangover's completely gone,' Hermione said brightly, 'so yeah, bring it on. Although I have to admit I don't really want to be drinking all day.'

'Don't worry, we won't be,' Ginny assured her.

Hermione looked surprised. 'Really? What's changed? When we started this weekend you'd have had me drink half a dozen shots by now if you could.'

Ginny chuckled. 'True, but things have moved on a little. Firstly, you're such a lightweight that there's no point in getting you pissed so early in the day or you won't go out tonight — and tonight's our last night here and you are _not_ staying in, whatever happens. Secondly, those of us who didn't spend the last twenty-four hours lazing around in bed but were out actually having _fun_ are in need of a little sleep before we begin again, so the alcohol won't start flowing until this afternoon.'

'I'll go for a walk along the seafront while you're sleeping, then, so I won't disturb you,' Hermione said. 'If you work out what time and where to meet it'll save me coming back here. Anyway, what have you got planned for us today in your extensive timetable?'

Ginny shrugged. 'Pubs, more fun fair rides and then a nice civilised evening for our last night here. I thought we could go to that Chinese place, the big one just up from the Tower. I went there with Alicia's lot and the food is really delicious. That will take up most of the evening, so you can have a chance to sober up a bit with the food if you get drunk this afternoon. We could go to a club after, if you fancy it, but nothing too late. Our train leaves at nine fifty-five tomorrow morning and we definitely don't want to be hung over for that — or worse still, miss it.'

Hermione smiled. 'That sounds good.' She hugged her friend. 'I'm sorry I've been such a boring cow, Gin, but all those shots on Friday really were a major mistake. They completely wiped me out.'

'Such a lightweight,' Ginny said affectionately as she returned the hug. 'We've not really missed you, though, to be honest.' She realised what she had said and added quickly, 'Although obviously it would have been better if you had been there.'

Hermione laughed. 'Not on the roller coaster yesterday, it wouldn't have been. I'd have thrown up all over you.'

'Nice . . . very classy,' Ginny said with a look of disgust on her face.

'You know it. So are you getting some breakfast before you go to sleep?' Hermione asked her.

Ginny yawned. 'Yeah, that's a good idea. I could do with a fry-up to soak up some of the alcohol.' She grinned. 'That Blaise is a complete nutter once he gets going. He is _lots_ of fun, though. Let's go and see if the others are back. They'll probably want to eat as well.'

Hermione followed Ginny out of the door and into the corridor. She couldn't help wondering how far things had gone between Ginny and Blaise but she didn't want to ask because she was definitely in no position to judge after the things she had done this weekend, and she had a funny feeling that questioning the status of their relationship would somehow bring the question back to her and Draco, as it always seemed to. She was acutely aware that she was going to be expected to partner up with him throughout the day and that this would no doubt cause all their friends to try to get them to have that final snog they seemed so convinced they needed to get out of their systems. Well, she was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the ribbing. She had spent far too much time hiding away in her hotel room this weekend, with or without Draco, and she needed to show her friends that she was capable of having fun — although preferably without getting too drunk.

'Oh, and you won't need to worry about Draco bugging you today,' Ginny said with another yawn as they walked towards the next room. She knocked on the door and they waited.

'Why's that?' Hermione asked curiously.

Her heart had started beating faster when Ginny mentioned Draco's name. She was sure Ginny didn't know what they had been doing all weekend, but just thinking of Draco made her a little light-headed.

'He went off with a pair of pretty young blonde twins last night at some seventies-themed disco that we stopped at before we went to Syndicate,' Ginny said with a huge grin. She banged the door again and called out, 'Padma . . . Parvati . . . are you two in there?' She looked at Hermione. 'He was all over them in the club and they were definitely more than interested in him, so I think he finally got his leg over. If he has the sort of night Blaise seemed to think he was going to get, I doubt we'll see much of him today.'

'Good for him,' Hermione said mildly. 'I'm glad he didn't just have to watch all you lot getting it on all weekend.'

'I don't think they're back yet,' Ginny said, indicating the twins' door. 'Either that or they've died. Come on, let's go.' She moved to a door across the corridor and knocked on that, too. 'He wouldn't have been on his own if you'd shown a bit more interest,' she pointed out.

Hermione sighed. 'I told you, this weekend was never about that for me. I didn't have any need to have a final fling or whatever.' She could feel her fingers crossing as she said it and quickly slid them into her trouser pocket where Ginny wouldn't see them.

The door opened and Hannah peered out blearily. She was squinting as if the light was too bright.

'Breakfast?' Ginny asked pleasantly. She pointed at Hermione. 'The princess has finally graced us with her presence. She's going to go for a walk while we catch up on some zeds, but we're having breakfast first. Are you going to join us?'

Hannah nodded and said sleepily, 'I'll be down in a bit. I need to get re-dressed.' She went to close the door, then opened it again. 'Luna's asleep,' she added, as if it was an afterthought. 'I won't bother waking her. I'll see you downstairs.'

'Well, I still think it's a shame you and Draco never had a decent snog at least,' Ginny said as she and Hermione walked down the stairs towards the restaurant. 'I honestly thought you two had a bit of a thing for each other at school.'

Hermione looked at her in surprise. 'Are you joking? You know what an arsehole he was at school. We hated each other.'

'Yeah, but a bit too much, if you know what I mean,' Ginny said. She chuckled. 'Last night Luna told Draco that you and he made the perfect couple.'

Hermione snorted. 'Yeah, well, she isn't called Loony for nothing, is she? I bet he was impressed by that.'

'I thought she made sense, actually,' Ginny said musingly. 'Ron does seem a very odd choice for you when you think about it properly.'

'Don't you want me to marry him?' Hermione asked, suddenly defensive. 'You've been trying to get me to go off with Draco all weekend. Is this some last-minute attempt to split me up from your brother before the wedding?'

Ginny sighed and pulled Hermione to a stop outside the restaurant. 'Don't be stupid. Of course I want you to marry him, if that's what you _really_ want. Personally I couldn't put up with the foul git, but fortunately that's why he's my brother . . . and you've obviously got a bit of a thing for him. I just worry that you're both so inexperienced in relationships that you might be settling for each other to be on the safe side . . . and he's definitely got the best part of that deal, Hermione.'

'It's a bit late to worry about that the week before my wedding,' Hermione pointed out, although Ginny noticed she didn't deny it. 'Anyway, apparently Ron's no longer that inexperienced after this weekend, if what you said he's up to is true,' she added unhappily. She felt a sudden shot of guilt at her own behaviour but pushed it back down.

'That was a joke,' Ginny said. She thought for a moment, then added, 'Well, mainly . . . although there are definitely strippers involved. I overheard that much, and if Charlie's got anything to do with it there will be prostitutes, too. He's got a thing about whores with his phobia about commitment. My mother's always nagging him about it.' She stroked Hermione's arm soothingly. 'I know Ron loves you, but let's face it: he is rather easily led, especially when he's pissed, so anything's possible. And I just wanted you to have a bit of fun, too.'

'I'm capable of having a perfectly good time without cheating on my fiancé,' Hermione said stiffly. She ignored the image of Draco that appeared in her mind as she said this, and crossed her fingers even tighter.

'Yeah, by staying in and reading a book on Saturday night. That's not having a good time, Hermione, and it's certainly not living. You're twenty-two, not eighty-two.'

'But that's what I enjoy doing. I'm sorry I'm not some stupid little tart who likes to go out clubbing all the time.'

'Is that what you think I am?' Ginny asked, her voice angrier now. 'A stupid little tart . . . and the others, is that what you think of them, too?'

Hermione looked horrified at the realisation of what she had just said. 'Oh god, no, of course not. I wasn't talking about any of you. I'm so sorry, I take it back.'

Ginny sighed and said gruffly, 'Sorry, I'm still drunk and a bit grouchy because I'm tired. Don't worry about it. Let's go and eat.'

She led Hermione into the restaurant and they took their place at a table.

'I can sort of understand what you meant about the final fling thing,' Hermione admitted as they waited for their food to arrive. She took a sip of her tea. 'But I still think it's a bit late. I mean, what would have happened if I had gone off with Draco and fallen in love with him? What if I had discovered that he was the one for me, as Luna said?'

Ginny laughed. 'Don't be ridiculous. I know how much you're in love with Ron. I just thought Draco might be an interesting diversion as he's so obviously improved considerably since school. Anyway, there's a huge difference between having a bit of a snog and getting to the stage where you think you're in love with a Malfoy, and we all know you're not going to do anything like that.'

Another wave of guilt washed over Hermione and she took a sip of her tea as she tried to quell the feeling. She wasn't sure she could talk without giving herself away and she hoped to god she wasn't blushing. She looked up in relief as Hannah, Padma, and Parvati joined them.

'Look who I found on the way down,' Hannah said. 'Dirty stop-outs! They were only just getting back.'

The twins both looked pale and completely shattered. Padma put her head on her arms on the table as they waited for the waitress to come over.

'You're looking much better today,' Parvati said to Hermione. 'Ready to get drunk again?'

Padma gave a muffled groan.

'I'm not sure about getting drunk but I'm definitely up for a good time today. I can't believe how much better I feel now the hangover's gone,' Hermione said, pleased to be able to change the subject. 'Time to catch up on the fun I missed out on yesterday.'

The waitress appeared carrying a tray containing Hermione and Ginny's breakfasts. Padma raised her head as they were placed in front of the women and she groaned again, looking even paler.

'I can't do this,' she said. 'I think I'm going to hurl. I'll see you later.' She got up from the table and hurried towards the door, one hand over her mouth.

'Well she might not be able to eat but I certainly can,' Parvati said. She and Hannah both ordered breakfasts the same as the ones Hermione and Ginny had already started tucking into. 'Can we have another pot of tea as well, please?' she added as she poured from the pot that was already at the table.

Hannah picked up a slice of toast and began to butter it. She seemed to be having a little trouble with her co-ordination.

'So what are we doing later, then?' she asked with a yawn. She looked at Hermione. 'I suppose we'd better do what you want today, seeing as you've made the effort to join us at last.'

'I really am sorry about yesterday,' Hermione said sincerely. 'But I honestly thought I'd died and gone to hell. I definitely think all those shots were a major mistake. As long as I keep away from those today I should be fine. As for what we're doing, Ginny's got the itinerary. I think it mainly involves more fun fairs and a bit of drinking.'

'I don't think Padma's going to be drinking,' Parvati said with a grin. 'I've never seen her so drunk. I've no idea what she and Adrian were drinking last night but they were both rolling. I had to get Greg to help carry her back.'

'We're going to go to the Chinese for a meal tonight,' Ginny said. 'The Mayflower, I think it's called. The food's really lovely there.' She looked at Hermione. 'Would you prefer it to be just us girls this evening? I'm aware that we've been a little welded to Draco's crew since Friday night and obviously there's the problem of you and Draco being paired up if they come along.'

Hermione sipped at her tea while she decided what to say. It would be easier for her if they kept away from the men this evening as it would remove the temptation for her friends to start yet another "snog Draco" campaign but it was going to be the last chance she would have to spend any time with him, there certainly wouldn't be time in the morning; and it wasn't fair of her to stop her friends from spending their last night in Blackpool with the men they'd had so much fun with all weekend, either. She put down her cup.

'They might already have plans to do something else,' she pointed out. 'But we can always ask them if they want to come with us. I expect we'll be seeing them later, won't we?'

She noticed that her tired friends all seemed to brighten a little at her words and she knew she had made the right choice. She drained the last of her tea and stood up.

'I'm going back up to the room to get ready to go out. I'll let you lot finish your breakfast, then you can all go to bed without me disturbing you. I'm going to walk along the beach for an hour or so, then head back to the Promenade and visit the sea life centre. After that I shall find a cafe and read my book while I wait for you. Where are we going to meet?'

'How about that pub we went to yesterday afternoon after the Pleasure Beach? That was really nice,' Ginny said. She frowned. 'Oh, you weren't with us, were you, Hermione?' She scratched her head, thinking. 'It's along the Promenade — big place, weird name — the Pump and . . . Truncheon, I think it was called. Anyway, you can't miss it when you see it. What say we meet you there at two o'clock?'

Hermione nodded. 'Okay, that sounds good. I'm sure I'll find it without too much problem. Sleep well, all of you. I'll see you later. The first round's on me.' 

* * *

Hermione sipped her wine, feeling relaxed as she looked around the table watching her friends and Draco's talking and laughing together. She was feeling happy and pleasantly sated after a lovely big meal and was enjoying the wine, especially knowing she was unlikely to end up with a hangover from it. It had been such a good day and it was a little sad to think that their time in Blackpool was almost over as now she was fully recovered from her hangover she could appreciate what a good weekend her friends had planned for her, even if it hadn't really been something she would have chosen herself. But tomorrow they had to go home and she had to prepare herself for life as Mrs Ronald Weasley.

She glanced momentarily to her left, looking at the handsome blond man sitting next to her who was busy talking to Ginny and Blaise, sitting next to him. Draco seemed to be telling a joke. He had changed so much from how she remembered him at school; even ignoring all that crap about blood status that had been such a big part of the reason for his hatred for her he had never been the nicest person in the world and certainly not someone she would ever have considered having a relationship with. But this weekend had shown such a different side to him and this new Draco appealed to her in a way she would never have imagined. Even now she was unable to feel particularly guilty about the things she had done with him, even knowing that if Ron ever found out he would be devastated. If anything she felt guiltier for lying to her friends, still proclaiming her disinterest when that quite obviously wasn't the case any more. But she had no choice. Maybe it was true that what happened in Blackpool stayed in Blackpool, but the more people who knew what she and Draco had done meant the greater the chance was that Ron would hear about it.

But she didn't want to think too hard about Draco. They had said their goodbyes before he left that morning, aware that the chance of spending any more time alone together was fairly remote and she didn't want to think about how empty that made her feel inside. Whatever had been between them was over now, with the possible exception of a "Draco snog" which had been mentioned by their friends in jest several times during the course of the day. She turned to look the other way and her gaze encountered Theo and Luna, both of whom smiled at her, rather eerily she thought. She smiled back, then took another sip of her drink.

She had enjoyed her walk along the beach that morning, followed by what she considered an interesting visit to the sea life centre. She had also discovered there was an art gallery in the town, so after a brief stop for a cup of tea in a cafe overlooking the sea, she had spent quite some time wandering around there, happy in the knowledge that there was at least some culture in Blackpool. Finally she had wandered slowly along the Promenade, interested in how different it looked during the day when all the bright neon wasn't lighting up the sky. It was just after two when she found the pub where she was meeting the others. Having established that they weren't yet there she waited outside, waving as she spotted her friends walking towards her. The men joined them just as she was buying the drinks and they commandeered a couple of tables outside in the sunshine, pushing them together so they could sit round them.

The afternoon saw them visit one of the three piers, spending quite some time in the Coral Island arcade playing the slot machines and taking part in a crazy golf contest which was won by Hannah and Alex, much to everyone else's disgust and with a lot of crowing by the victorious couple. They stopped to buy ice creams, which they ate sitting on the sandy beach before heading towards the Pleasure Beach and roller coasters galore. As expected, Hermione was paired with Draco throughout the afternoon but this was obviously no hardship for her now. In fact, the difficult thing was to maintain the outward attitude of disinterest she had shown towards him previously.

The first mention of a "Draco snog" that day came just after they emerged from the largest roller coaster. Hermione was shaking and her heart pounded with terror. She wasn't keen on roller coasters at the best of times, but this one had scared her silly and she had clung onto Draco and whimpered pathetically, not caring who could see her or what her friends thought. This had nothing to do with Draco; she would have done that with whomever she had been sharing the car as she explained to her friends when they began ribbing her about her sudden desire for the blond man.

It was mentioned again when they all went into the Ghost Ride, not quite so scary for any of them as for the Muggles; after all, they were used to real ghosts after their time at Hogwarts. But Hermione used it as a chance to snuggle up close to Draco in the dark, aware that for most of the journey they couldn't be seen by their friends and that this was a brief chance for them to extend their time together. Then it was the Tunnel of Love, which initially Hermione refused to go on, then she attempted to partner Ginny although she knew that was never going to happen. After a lot of badgering by her friends, she and Draco boarded one of the cars and set off for the least romantic ride she could ever imagine being called the Tunnel of Love. They held hands most of the way round, but there was no opportunity for anything more intimate between them due to the design of the cars; they were both aware that they were walking a very fine line in being so public. Eventually, to Hermione's great relief they finished with the fun fair, and after a ride on the Ferris wheel they adjourned to a pub where she soothed her somewhat jarred nerves with a couple of glasses of white wine. It was all extremely civilised, in complete contrast to the frantic drinking of Friday, and by the time they wandered down to the Chinese restaurant later that evening Hermione didn't even feel particularly drunk.

But now it was almost time to leave and she could feel the buzz of disquiet in the air. She wasn't the only one who was disappointed that the weekend was almost over. Everyone around the table seemed to be feeling it and no one wanted to be the first to make a move, each couple trying desperately to cling to what remained of the night. Hermione was aware that everyone was considering going clubbing again, although they had already discussed the need to be back at the hotel by two o'clock at the latest to ensure they got up and to the train station in time. She wasn't completely averse to the idea, although personally she felt two o'clock was too late as it gave her far too much opportunity to get drunk and she really didn't want a hangover for the long journey home.

'Do you want to go back to that seventies place, Draco?' Adrian asked. 'Those twins might be there.' He grinned wickedly.

Draco shrugged and gave a small laugh. 'I wouldn't mind going back there actually. I quite liked it and the music was good. But I know the twins won't be there. They told me they only go clubbing on Saturday nights. They have to be at work tomorrow morning so they'll be having early night.'

'Oh well, bad luck, Hermione,' Alex said with a grin. 'Unfortunately, you get the short straw again. Looks like Draco's all yours tonight.'

Hermione looked at her watch. 'I expect I can manage for another couple of hours,' she retorted dryly.

She felt Draco squeeze her leg under the table and her heart beat a little faster.

'Where are we going to go, then?' Ginny asked, 'Syndicate . . . or?'

'Syndicate's as good a place as any,' Padma said. 'At least we know what we're doing there.'

'As long as we don't end up being there all night,' Parvati said. 'I really do need a bit of sleep before we travel tomorrow.'

'You can sleep on the train,' Ginny told her wickedly.

Hermione shook her head. 'I don't mind going clubbing, but I'm definitely not staying out all night.'

'So have we decided on Syndicate, then?' Blaise asked. There was a general murmur of agreement. He looked over towards where the waiters had congregated and waved. 'Bill, please,' he told the young man who came over to serve them. 

* * *

Hermione was just about ready to go back to the hotel. She had tried to keep up with her friends and not act in a way that would have them rolling their eyes or calling her a party-pooper, but they had started on the shots again and there was no way she was joining in with that tonight. She was feeling quite pleasantly merry from the wine and that was more than sufficient for her. More worryingly, it looked like her hardcore friends were getting in the mood for staying out all night again; obviously they didn't want to leave the men they had been having such fun with over the weekend. But Hermione wanted to go back to the hotel and get some sleep before the journey back home and she could feel the annoyance that had caused her to act so rashly on Friday night rising once again. She wasn't anywhere near as drunk as she had been then, nor was she dressed inappropriately, but still, remembrance of the men who had attacked her made her hesitant to leave on her own, even though she knew she would have no trouble finding her way back to the hotel this time.

'What's the matter?' Draco asked her. They were the only two who weren't dancing.

'I really want to go back to the hotel,' Hermione said unhappily. 'I've had enough to drink and I want to get some sleep, but it looks like the others are settling in for a long night of clubbing again. I really don't want to be here all night.'

'Do you want me to walk you back to your hotel?' Draco asked hopefully.

Hermione shook her head. 'I don't want to set their tongues wagging on the last night, not after we've managed to keep the rest of the weekend so well hidden.'

'I'm not talking about staying, Hermione. I'm well aware that's not possible . . . unfortunately. But I don't want you walking back to the hotel on your own, and I don't care how sober you are, or the fact that you think you'll be fine. I'm sure the others would agree with me, especially after what happened on Friday,' Draco said seriously. He gave her a small grin. 'You've no need to worry. I'll take you back and then come back here so everyone will know nothing happened between us.'

Ginny and Blaise were dancing in their direction, heading for the bar and more shots, no doubt. Hermione looked at them and then at her other friends who were all busy dancing, snogging, or both.

'All right, but you have to come straight back. I don't want them getting the wrong idea.'

'Do you two want a drink?' Blaise asked. 'Shot, Draco? Do you want one, Hermione, or would you prefer something else?'

Hermione shook her head. 'I don't want any more, thank you, Blaise. I'm going to go back to the hotel. It's almost two o'clock and I really want to get some sleep.'

Draco followed Blaise to the bar to help him with the drinks.

Ginny looked at Hermione with horror. 'You're not going back on your own? Hermione, you can't. You know what happened last time.'

Hermione shrugged. 'I don't really have much choice, do I? It doesn't look like any of you are ready to leave and I don't want to ruin your last evening here by forcing you all to come back to the hotel with me.'

'Draco will take you,' Ginny said. She saw the reproachful look Hermione gave her and added hurriedly, 'It's better than going on your own and you've been getting on okay with him today, haven't you?'

'I've never had a problem with Draco,' Hermione told her friend quietly. 'It was just all that stuff about a final fling that was causing me a problem. But I don't want to ruin his last night, either. Anyway, I should be okay tonight. I'm not pissed and I'm not dressed like a tart.'

'I still don't think you should walk on your own,' Ginny said doubtfully.

'That's why I told her I would be happy to make sure Hermione gets back to the hotel safely,' Draco said smoothly. He and Blaise had reappeared behind the women, carrying shot glasses. 'Although you will have to have one shot before you go, Hermione — just so you can say you've lived it up a little this evening.'

Hermione looked at the offered glass with distaste. She really didn't want any more alcohol but one shot would probably be bearable and would stop her from being the humbug of the party, as always. She reluctantly reached out and took the glass containing a clear liquid.

'What is it?' she asked. She sniffed and the strong smell of aniseed hit her.

'Sambucca,' Blaise said. 'Not flaming, but it'll do.'

Draco moved closer and clinked glasses with her. 'To a wonderful weekend,' he said with a smile, his pale eyes capturing hers and staring deeply.

'To a wonderful weekend,' Hermione murmured in response, and still staring at each other they both lifted their glasses and drank, Blaise and Ginny joining in beside them.

'And now I really want that kiss,' Draco said as he moved even closer, his arm wrapping around Hermione and pulling her close.

'You just ruined it,' Hermione informed him. 'Let go of me, Draco.'

'Just one kiss,' Draco crooned seductively. 'Maybe two if it's good.'

'I'm not kissing—'

Draco pulled her to him and kissed her. Ginny began to jump up and down, clapping excitedly, and Blaise wolf-whistled. The others, who until that moment had had no interest in what was going on with their friends, stopped dancing and came over to watch Draco and Hermione, who were involved a kiss of epic proportions.

'Bet she wishes she'd done that on Friday,' Hannah said sardonically. 'Their entire weekend could have been completely different.'

'That is certainly some kiss,' Padma said, sounding awed.

'I told you they make the perfect couple,' Luna said smugly. 'I knew it.'

Hermione pulled away from Draco as the kiss finished. She looked unhappy and embarrassed.

'There. It's done. I've kissed him. You can all leave me alone now.' She glanced around the group, who looked a little uncomfortable at her reaction. 'I want to go back to the hotel now. Is anyone else coming?'

'I told you, I'll take you,' Draco said mildly. He pulled the empty shot glass from Hermione's hand. He looked at her face, then raised his hands in a placating manner and said in a colder voice, 'That was it, I promise. I got the kiss I wanted. You can go and get married now.' He turned and walked towards the bar to return the glasses.

'Are you all right?' Ginny asked as the others drifted back onto the dance floor now the entertainment was over.

'I'm fine,' Hermione replied shortly. 'But I need to go to bed. I'll see you later, or in the morning . . . or whatever.'

'Are you ready?' Draco asked.

Hermione nodded and said a little stiffly, 'Thank you for walking with me, Draco.'

He smiled pleasantly. 'We want to make sure you get back safely. Wouldn't want anything to stop your wedding, would we?'

He turned to Blaise. 'I'll be back shortly. I'll drop her off and then come back.'

Blaise's eyebrows rose in surprise. 'Are you sure?'

'I'm absolutely positive,' Draco replied coolly, and he followed Hermione towards the door.

'I can't believe you kissed me,' Hermione said in annoyance once they got outside. She strode down the road angrily.

'Why not? I've been asking you for a kiss all weekend. Everyone would have gone home disappointed if it hadn't happened.'

'And now everyone thinks we're going off to the hotel to do god only knows what,' Hermione retorted.

Draco laughed. 'No, they don't, not after your reaction. Bearing in mind what a cracking kiss it was, you certainly didn't act particularly graciously. Anyway, I told Blaise I was coming back as soon as I dropped you off. That will cover it.'

'Then I expect they'll all be waiting to see if you do and what time you get there,' Hermione grumbled.

'I seriously doubt that. I think they'll all be too busy with their own last-minute fumbling to be worrying about us. Don't worry about it. It will be fine.'

They walked along in silence, Hermione still fuming at what Draco had done and at the same time trying to fight down the urge to grab him and kiss him again. This had to be finished between them.

'I'll be fine from here,' Hermione told him once they reached the front of the guest house. 'You don't need to come in.'

'You know I'm going to,' Draco said. 'So don't bother arguing. I want to make sure you get to your room okay.'

'You're not coming in,' Hermione shot back rapidly.

'I know that, but I want to come with you anyway. Please, Hermione, don't make this difficult.'

Hermione sighed. 'Okay, but then you have to go. No more funny stuff. Please promise me.'

Draco looked at her appraisingly for a moment. 'I promise: no funny stuff.'

They entered the hotel and walked across the reception area and up the stairs.

'I really wish it was Friday night still,' Draco said honestly as they walked down the corridor towards Hermione's room. 'We'd still have the whole weekend to spend together and I'd be seeing you in that amazing outfit again.' He winked at her lewdly.

'But I would be facing the hangover from hell,' Hermione pointed out, although she grinned at his comment. 'That wouldn't be so good.'

'True, but I helped you make it all better last time,' Draco said seductively. They stopped outside Hermione's door. 'And I would be more than happy to do it again.'

Hermione looked disconcerted and she shook her head. 'Don't, Draco. This has got to be over now.'

Draco raised his hand to stroke her cheek. 'Just give me one more kiss and that will be it.'

Hermione shook her head but as Draco pulled her towards him and into a kiss she returned it just as fervently, clinging on to him as if she never wanted to let go. Eventually the kiss finished and Hermione pulled away, moving back towards the door. Draco looked at her appraisingly again, knowing that he had to say or do something, that this was his last chance to stop her leaving him.

'You can't marry Weasley,' he said seriously. 'It can't happen, Hermione.'

Hermione looked shocked. 'Don't be ridiculous, Draco. I'm not cancelling my wedding.'

'But you don't love him,' Draco told her.

He moved towards Hermione, trying to take her in his arms once more, but she pushed him away.

'Stop it, Draco. I'm going to bed. You need to leave right away.'

'You can't marry him. I don't believe you love him, not after this weekend,' Draco insisted.

Hermione looked at him miserably. 'It's too late, Draco. I'm marrying Ron and that's all there is to it.'

'But after the things we did you should be marrying me, not him,' Draco said disbelievingly.

'It was a final fling,' Hermione said heatedly, her voice cracking with emotion. 'That's what you told me. Nothing's changed. What happens in Blackpool stays in Blackpool, remember?'

'Hermione, please. . . .'

Hermione shook her head, looking miserable. 'It's too late. Now please go.'

She turned and opened the door, Draco watching her.

'Goodbye, Draco,' she said without turning round.

Draco held out his hand to grab Hermione's shoulder and stop her, then dropped his arm, realising it would do no good. Hermione walked through the door and closed it in his face. He stood staring at the closed door for several minutes; then, his heart hurting and with a sick feeling in his stomach, he turned and walked back down the corridor.

Inside the hotel room Hermione threw herself onto her bed, burying her face deep in the pillow as she sobbed. She didn't want Draco to hear her if he was still standing outside. Her heart ached and she felt unhappier than she had ever felt in her life but what she had told Draco was true: it was too late, and what they had done had just been a final fling. Nothing more could ever come of it. She probably wouldn't even remember it after she had been married for a few months. But the tears didn't stop and however hard she tried she couldn't stop thinking of the beautiful blond man who had made her last weekend of freedom so enjoyable. It was a long time before she fell asleep, still fully dressed and lying on top of the bed. 

* * *

Draco walked slowly back towards Syndicate. All the way he cursed himself for the way he had acted with Hermione. He should have stopped her from entering her room, should have made her see that what she was doing was wrong . . . that she should be with him, not Weasley. Perhaps he should have made his feelings for her clearer, but surely she must know how he felt about her; he was sure he had made that more than clear enough over the course of the weekend. But then, of course, he had been the one to couch it in terms of a final fling at first, so maybe she really did just see it as that and no more. But he couldn't believe that. She couldn't have been with him in the way she had if she were really still in love with Weasley. Hermione wasn't that sort of woman. For a moment he stopped, debating whether to go back and demand that she open the door and talk to him again, to force her to admit that she had feelings for him and somehow convince her to cancel her wedding and marry him in Weasley's place. But although he wanted to do it, he didn't. Instead he began walking again, his feet taking him back to the club and his friends, knowing that if he tried to do anything now all he would do was anger Hermione and ruin any good feeling that she had for him.

He walked through the door of the club, determined now to get completely pissed. Their train wasn't leaving until the afternoon so he would have plenty of time to sleep it off, and he needed something to get him through the rest of the night, something to take his mind off the beautiful woman he had lost forever.


	5. Chapter 5

'Did you have a good weekend?' Astoria asked. She kissed Draco's cheek as she passed him on her way into his flat.

He shrugged. 'It was all right, I suppose.'

'Only all right?' She looked at him curiously once he joined her in the lounge and said with amusement, 'What's the matter, darling, didn't you get your leg over?'

Draco scowled and replied dismissively, 'Let's just say it didn't exactly go the way I'd hoped.'

Astoria sat down on the sofa and laughed delightedly. 'Oh dear, poor Draco. Couldn't manage to find someone to give you a final shag before getting married, eh? Bad luck!'

Draco opened the door of a sideboard that took up most of one side of the room and rummaged around inside for a moment before pulling out a bottle of brandy. He looked towards where Astoria was sitting. 'I want to cancel the wedding,' he told her.

'Don't be so bloody stupid.' Astoria's voice had lost its amused tone. She glared at him. 'What do you mean, you want to cancel the wedding? It's on Saturday, for Merlin's sake. It's too late to cancel now.'

'No, it isn't,' Draco said shortly. 'There's more than enough time to stop it.'

He put the bottle on the sideboard and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing a minute later carrying two glasses. He placed them on the sideboard and picked up the brandy again. He unscrewed the lid and poured two generous measures of the alcohol. After putting the lid back on the bottle he walked back towards the sofa and passed Astoria one of the glasses. He took a large sip of his drink and then sat down in an armchair.

'We are _not_ cancelling our wedding,' Astoria insisted. 'It's not my fault you had a bad weekend.' She sighed and then asked, 'So why do you want to cancel, anyway?'

'I don't love you,' Draco told her bluntly.

Astoria laughed loudly. 'Well, of course you don't, darling. But you never have done. That wasn't really the point of us getting married, was it?'

'But I don't want to marry you,' Draco insisted. 'I'm sorry, Astoria, but I just don't want to get married any more.'

'What's brought this on?' She looked at him curiously as she took a sip of her drink.

'I've fallen in love,' he admitted with a sigh.

Astoria looked astonished. 'What, with someone else? I honestly thought you were incapable of loving anyone but yourself, darling.'

'Very funny,' Draco replied sourly. He took another slug of his drink.

'No, seriously, you're in love? Who with?' Astoria looked at him interestedly.

'It doesn't matter,' Draco said. 'She's getting married on Saturday.'

Astoria looked confused. 'Whoa, hold up, tiger. I don't understand. You want to break off _our_ wedding because someone you fell in love with over the weekend is getting married on the same day as us? You're not making any sense, Draco. Who is this miraculous woman who managed to so completely seduce you in one weekend?'

'It wasn't just one weekend,' Draco muttered. 'I've been in love with the bloody woman for years. I just didn't realise it until this weekend.'

'She was on her hen weekend in Blackpool, was she?' Astoria asked.

Draco nodded morosely.

'So you did get your leg over after all,' Astoria said quietly. She looked appraisingly at Draco. 'You said you've been in love with her for years. I can only think of one person who would fit that description.'

'What do you mean?' Draco asked.

'Hermione Granger, of course,' Astoria said as if it was obvious. 'You've always had a thing for her, haven't you?' She shook her head sympathetically. 'So she's getting married, eh? Marrying Weasley, I suppose. I could never understand what she saw in him, to be honest. Then again, I could never understand what you saw in her.'

Draco looked at her in surprise. 'Was it really that obvious?'

Astoria chuckled. 'Let's just say you hated her a bit _too_ much, darling. I'm sure most of those idiot mates of yours didn't realise but anyone with half a brain had to suspect. I bet Blaise knew.'

Draco nodded. 'He did. And then she turned up in Blackpool.'

'So, did you sleep with her?'

'I don't want to talk about it,' Draco said stiffly. He took another mouthful of his drink.

'That means yes,' Astoria said smugly. 'Was she pissed?'

'I didn't take advantage of her, if that's what you're thinking,' Draco retorted angrily.

'What, she just jumped into bed with you of her own accord, did she? We're talking about prissy Miss Granger here, not Ginny Weasley. I have to admit, darling, that I have a hard time believing she was happy to rub bits with you when she's marrying her childhood sweetheart on Saturday, especially after the way you treated her at school.'

Draco scowled even more deeply. He looked into his glass for a moment, then admitted, 'I asked her to cancel her wedding.'

'Really?' Astoria looked shocked. 'Oh my god. What did she say . . . oh, sorry. She obviously said no.'

'She told me she couldn't,' Draco said. 'That it was too late.'

A smug grin crossed Astoria's face. 'See? I told you it was too late. Even Granger thinks so.'

'But how can it be too late? She doesn't love him.'

'Well, you obviously didn't overwhelm her as much as you thought you did, darling. Otherwise why is she still marrying him?'

'Why did you say it was too late?' Draco demanded, ignoring the jibe about Hermione. He downed the last of his brandy, then stood up and went over to the sideboard to pour another drink.

Astoria shrugged. 'Everything's been paid for, everything's sorted, and it would be a major nightmare to have to tell everyone it was off this close to the day.'

'Is that why she's still marrying him?' Draco asked, sounding deeply disgusted. 'Because it's easier than cancelling?' He started pacing the room, a scowl deepening on his face the whole time.

'I'm sure that's not the only reason,' Astoria told him soothingly. 'You've got to face it, darling, she's obviously not interested or she would have cancelled. You don't get married to someone you don't love if the person you do love is asking you to be with them instead . . . at least not unless you're completely mental.'

'I'm sure she doesn't love him,' Draco insisted.

Astoria sighed. 'Well, it doesn't really matter what _you_ think. She's chosen Weasley and I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with that.' She stood up and walked over to Draco, stopping him from pacing. She gently stroked his arm and said sweetly, 'I know you're torn up about this at the moment, darling, but there's really no reason to stop our wedding. Not if she's not stopping hers. It will be for the best in the long run, you'll see.'

Draco shook his head but didn't say anything. There was nothing he could say. He took a sip of his drink.

'You're probably right,' he said finally, sounding really miserable. 'There's no point in cancelling.'

'Good,' Astoria said, and she leant forward to give him a tender kiss on the cheek. 

* * *

'Are you okay?' Ginny asked. She walked across the room to where Hermione was sitting at the dressing table staring vacantly into the mirror.

Hermione turned to look at her friend and smiled wanly. 'Just nervous, I think. I feel sick and fluttery but I'm sure it will pass soon.'

Ginny grinned. 'Give it another couple of hours and it will all be over. You'll wonder what you were so nervous about.' She took Hermione's hand and squeezed it gently. 'You look beautiful, Hermione, honestly. Just think, another hour and you'll be stuck with my idiot brother forever . . . actually, no wonder you're nervous.'

'I know I'm being stupid,' Hermione said.

Ginny shook her head. 'Of course you're not. It's natural to be a bit nervous at times like this. Just go with it and by four o' clock you'll be at the reception and celebrating that the hard part is done.'

_By four o'clock Draco and I will both be married_, Hermione thought.

She pushed the thought away. She didn't need to think about Draco, not now . . . not ever. She was marrying Ron, as she had dreamed and planned for so long and no one was going to stop that not even a handsome blond who, try as she might, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about all week. But there was no point in thinking about him. She was going to marry Ron and Draco was going to marry . . . Hermione frowned as she realised that she didn't even have any idea who it was that Draco was marrying. She had never bothered to ask him and it had never been mentioned while they were with their friends. It was probably Pansy Parkinson; after all, she had been Draco's girlfriend at school. She thought of the couple together and for some reason it made her feel sad. Draco deserved so much better than Pansy. He deserved someone like . . . like her. But that was stupid. She had no interest in Draco. She was marrying Ron.

'Were you listening to me?' Ginny asked. She sounded a little exasperated.

'No, I'm sorry, I drifted off for a moment,' Hermione admitted ruefully. 'What did you say?'

'Nothing important, fortunately. I was just trying to calm your nerves. What were you thinking about — something good, I hope?'

Hermione shrugged. 'Weddings.'

Ginny looked at her appraisingly for a moment, catching something in her voice. 'Oh of course — Draco's getting married today as well, isn't he? I wonder how he's feeling.' She chuckled. 'I expect he's fine, but Astoria's probably in the same situation as you — a bag of nerves. You know I'd love to see what their wedding looks like. I bet it's really grand and they've spent loads of money on it.'

'Astoria,' Hermione said, sounding shocked. 'He's marrying Astoria Greengrass?'

'Didn't you know?' Ginny asked in surprise.

Hermione shook her head. She looked embarrassed. 'No. To be honest, I never thought to ask him and it never came up in conversation. I just assumed he was marrying Pansy. She was his girlfriend at school.'

'That was years ago,' Ginny said scornfully.

'Well, Ron and I were a couple at school,' Hermione told her.

Ginny snorted. 'Well, only just. You'd pretty much left by the time my stupid brother realised that you fancied him. Perhaps if you had gone out with him earlier you might have ended up marrying someone else, too.'

An image of Draco slipped back into Hermione's mind again and she fought to squash it back down where it had come from. 'Do you really believe that?' she asked Ginny worriedly.

Ginny shrugged and said dismissively, 'I don't know. But you've not really had much experience with other men, have you, Hermione? Okay, I know you went out with Viktor, but that wasn't really a proper relationship. And there was never anyone else, was there? That's why we were all trying to get you to let your hair down a bit in Blackpool.'

'You don't think you were leaving it a bit late waiting until the week before my wedding?' Hermione asked.

Ginny shrugged again. 'I didn't honestly expect you to dump Ron, just maybe go a bit wild for once and have a weekend of fun before you got tied down to my boring git of a brother forever — and I was pretty sure that's what he was doing, so why shouldn't you play the same game?'

Hermione sighed. 'That was a really dangerous thing to do, you know. What if I'd ended up deciding to cancel the wedding?'

Ginny looked at her in surprise. 'Was that likely?'

Hermione didn't say anything for a moment.

'Honestly, Hermione, are you having second thoughts?' Ginny asked worriedly. 'I know you're nervous, but surely you're not really thinking of calling it off, are you?'

Hermione shook her head, 'Of course not. It's too late now, isn't it? The wedding's due to start in a minute.'

'You don't sound very sure,' Ginny said.

Hermione gave her a small, weak smile. 'Ignore me, I'm just being stupid and letting my nerves get the better of me. Is it almost time to go? I don't have my watch on me.'

Ginny glanced at her watch, then gave Hermione's hand another supportive squeeze. 'I'll go and find out what's happening and see where your dad's got to. I'm sure they must be ready by now. At least we don't have far to go, the church is just across the road. Now stop worrying. It's all going to be absolutely fine.'

Releasing Hermione, Ginny headed for the door as the bride-to-be turned back towards the mirror, a brush and pot of powder in her hand. She looked at herself in the mirror, the smile dying on her face as the door closed. Hermione stared at herself. She was being ridiculous. It was definitely too late now for second thoughts and it wouldn't matter anyway. Draco would be getting married in an hour and then it would all be over. She just had to forget what had happened in Blackpool and get on with her life. She swirled the brush in the powder, tapped it on the side of the pot to get rid of the excess, and began to apply it to her face. 

* * *

'What _is_ the matter with you?'

Blaise looked worriedly at his friend as Draco paced the room like a caged tiger. He couldn't understand why Draco was getting so upset about Hermione's wedding. It wasn't as if he'd been particularly interested in her, apart from that one kiss, although it seemed now that maybe things had got a little more intimate between them than he had told Blaise at the time.

Draco stopped and glared at him. 'I can't believe you really have to ask.'

Blaise sighed. 'I don't know why you're torturing yourself like this.'

'Because I can't help it,' Draco told him miserably. He resumed pacing. 'I just can't believe she's really going to marry him.'

'Well, she is, and there's nothing you can do about it,' Blaise said a little less sympathetically than Draco would have liked. 'And even if there was, you've left it too late to do anything now. You're getting married yourself in a few minutes.' He broke off for a moment and then added, 'Last weekend was too late, really, but if you were serious you should have said something to her then.'

'I did,' Draco spat, a scowl on his face. 'I asked her to cancel the wedding but she told me it was too late. I also tried to cancel our wedding when I got back but Astoria wouldn't hear of it.'

Blaise looked at his friend in astonishment. 'Oh my god, you're serious about this. What the hell did you say to Hermione? What did you say to Astoria?'

'I told Hermione that she couldn't marry Weasley because she obviously doesn't love him; that she should cancel the wedding and be with me instead. I told Astoria that I'm in love with Hermione and wanted to cancel our wedding, but she wouldn't hear of it. She said with Hermione still getting married to that prat there was no reason to cancel . . . that nothing had changed.'

Blaise looked at his watch. 'Well, Astoria's right, it won't matter shortly. Hermione will be married to Weasley in ten minutes or so and there'll be no point in you moping about it. Face it, mate, you and Hermione were just some fantasy that was never going to happen. At least you can take some pleasure in the fact that you've had a little fun with Weasley's wife, even if it was just a snog.' He broke off for a moment and then added, 'If you remember, I told you at the time you should have just gone for it with her — although I suppose being fair that wouldn't actually have helped the situation if you're feeling like this now — but at least you might have had rather more concrete memories of the weekend to sustain you for the future.'

Draco stopped pacing. 'No,' he said. He was shaking his head. 'No, she's not going to marry him. She's meant to be with me.'

'It's too late, mate,' Blaise repeated. 'There's nothing you can—' He looked at Draco and shook his head too. 'You can't.' He sounded horrified.

'Why not?' Draco asked coldly. 'That's the whole point of the question — to make sure that a couple don't do something stupid.'

'She chose _him_,' Blaise pointed out.

'She said it was too late,' Draco retorted, still shaking his head. 'When I first told Astoria I wanted to cancel the wedding, she said it was too late as well because everything had been sorted and paid for. Don't you see, Blaise, Hermione didn't say she was in love with Weasley, she said it was too late. Too late to cancel is what she meant, I'm sure of it.'

'I think you're deluding yourself,' Blaise said doubtfully. 'If she wanted to be with you she would have said, wouldn't she?'

'I just don't believe she loves him enough to marry him. She can't. Not after—' Draco broke off before he said too much. 'I've got to stop her.'

'Don't do this, Draco. It's madness,' Blaise warned.

Draco looked at him miserably. 'I have to. Don't you see? I can't just let her go without saying something, Blaise. I've got to see her.'

'You're too late,' Blaise told him trying to stay reasonable. 'The wedding's already started. Look, come and have a drink and just forget about Hermione. You need to prepare for your own wedding and stop worrying about hers.'

'No, I have to do this,' Draco said, his voice and face set.

Blaise gripped his arm. 'But you don't even know where the wedding's taking place.'

Draco looked at him witheringly as he pulled from his friend's grasp. He pulled his wand from his pocket. 'Of course I do. I know everything about every moment of her wedding day. I needed to know . . . just in case. . . .'

'Just in case of what?' Blaise asked exasperatedly. 'What in Merlin's name did you think you were going to be doing today that required that piece of knowledge? You're at your own wedding, Draco, and it's due to start imminently.'

'She doesn't want to be with him,' Draco stated once more. 'I'll see you later.' And with a wave of his wand he Disapparated.

Blaise looked at the spot where until that moment his best friend had stood and shook his head. 'You bloody idiot,' he said loudly to the empty space. 'Now what the hell am I supposed to tell everyone?'

He looked at his watch once more, then with a sigh made his way towards the table to pour himself a glass of champagne while he debated what to do about Draco's disappearance. 

* * *

Draco appeared outside the door of the small country church. There was no time to lose. If he hadn't done so already, any minute now the vicar would be asking if there was any reason why Hermione and Weasley shouldn't get married which, of course, was the reason he had come. He opened the door and stepped into the porch, listening for a moment to the dull sound of the vicar's voice coming from the apse although he was unable to hear what he was saying. He walked into the nave, aware that his footfall was ringing on the stone floor as he walked. Directly ahead of him, standing in front of the vicar was Hermione, looking radiant in a pretty and demure gown that made her look like a princess. Next to her, holding her hand and looking nervous, was Weasley. The redhead scrubbed up well enough but still didn't look anywhere near good enough for the beautiful bride. His sister Ginny, obviously the bridesmaid and wearing a strapless gown of sky blue, was standing close to Hermione holding the bouquet, and Potter stood at Weasley's side taking his place as the best man. Draco couldn't help but be entranced by the sight of Hermione and he stood there for a moment just gazing at her. The vicar had stopped talking at Draco's entrance and the group turned to look at him. He saw Hermione frown and his heart pounded, so loud and hard that he thought it must be audible to the whole congregation, who also turned to look at the newcomer.

He felt a gentle hand on his arm and looked round to see Luna, who smiled as she tried to pull him into a pew, a finger to her mouth indicating that he was making too much noise. He shook his head and pulled her hand away, and as she moved to sit back down, a look of understanding on her face, he walked towards the apse.

'What the hell's he doing here?' Ron asked, sounding belligerent.

Hermione was frozen in surprise, unable to speak as she watched Draco walking towards them. She had no idea why he was there; he was supposed to be at his own wedding. Harry moved to intercept him, clearly worried that the blond man was on the attack, but Draco brushed him off and walked straight over to stand in front of Hermione.

'You can't marry him,' he told her, his voice serious. She looked so incredibly beautiful and completely stunned at his appearance.

'What are you talking about, Malfoy?' Ron asked angrily. 'Why don't you just go away? You weren't invited.'

Draco ignored Ron, focussing all his attention on Hermione still. 'You can't, Hermione, you don't love him.'

Hermione shook her head and said miserably, 'Please, Draco, don't do this.'

'I have to, he said quietly. 'You don't love Weasley, and I can't let you marry him.'

He turned to Ron. 'She doesn't love you, not the way you need her to, and if she marries you we're all going to be unhappy eventually. Maybe not at first, but in a few years you'll realise that she's not what you were hoping for . . . and you're definitely not want Hermione wants.'

'What are you talking about?' Ron asked, sounding confused. Then, more angrily, he added, 'Are you really that pathetic, Malfoy, that you need to ruin our wedding? Is your life so empty that you've got nothing to focus on but old enmities? Why don't you just do everyone a favour and piss off?'

Draco glanced at Hermione again, then looked back at Ron, a smug smirk crossing his face. Hermione reached out her hand to grab his arm and shook her head, but he couldn't stop now.

'She doesn't love you, Weasley. She's _trying_ because she thought it was too late to stop the wedding, but she doesn't love you and you won't be happy together,' he stated firmly.

'No, stop it, Draco!' Hermione said more frantically. She grappled at his arm and tried to pull him away from Ron, but he was determined. She whispered, 'Please . . . if you care for me at all. . . .'

'I have to do this,' Draco told her just as gently.

He turned once more to Ron.

'What did you do during your stag weekend?' he asked him interestedly. He heard Ginny give a small gasp of surprise as she realised where this was heading, and Hermione gave a small, unhappy moan.

Ron frowned. 'What do you mean, what did I do?'

Still smiling, Draco said, 'Well, did you have fun with those whores and strippers you were playing with in Europe? Did you shag them?'

Looking indignant, Ron blustered, 'I don't know what you're talking about. Stop talking shit.' But his face was a little red and he looked rather guilty.

Draco shrugged. 'I really hope you did,' he said candidly, 'because then at least you'll have got something out of this whole stupid business.'

He looked again at Hermione whose eyes were pleading with him as she shook her head. 'Don't,' she whimpered.

He gazed tenderly at her. 'I have to, my love,' he said quietly. 'You can't marry him. I won't let you.'

'Do you know what Hermione was doing last weekend in Blackpool?' Draco asked Ron when he turned to look at him again. The smugness had gone, to be replaced by seriousness now. When Ron gave a brief shake of his head, he continued, 'She was in bed with me for most of it.' He watched Ron's reaction for a moment.

'Weren't you, my love?' he asked Hermione.

Hermione looked as if she was about to cry, her hands over her mouth in horror. She was shaking and Ginny was looking between her and Draco in astonishment.

'Almost all weekend,' Draco said with a satisfied purr, letting the smugness back in to his voice now. 'And it was absolutely bloody wonderful. In fact, it was without a doubt the best weekend of my life.'

'Stop it!' Hermione said again, and her voice had hardened considerably. 'Go away, Draco.'

Draco took a step closer to her. 'I can't,' he said honestly. 'You can't marry him, just as I can't marry Astoria.'

'Is it true?' Ron asked Hermione, his voice a mixture of bitterness and confusion. 'Did you shag him?' Hermione looked at Ron miserably, her eyes full of tears. 'Well?' he asked again, his voice rising angrily. 'Tell me, Hermione, is it true?'

'I am so sorry, Ron,' Hermione whispered in a small voice, aware of gasps from both Ginny standing next to her and members of the congregation who were watching the action avidly, although somewhat confusedly. Ron shook his head at her words as if not wanting to believe it. Next to him Harry was looking stunned. Hermione closed her eyes for a second and then opened them and looked directly at Ron's shocked face. 'I'm really sorry. I don't know what—'

'She doesn't love you, Weasley,' Draco cut in once again.

He moved the final step closer to Hermione and before she knew what was happening had wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling his wand from his pocket as he did so. Ron cried out in anger and lunged for them both but Draco Disapparated, leaving only an empty space where he and Hermione had stood.

Furious, Ron grabbed Ginny, shaking her hard before releasing her as he growled, 'What the bloody hell happened in Blackpool?'

Ginny looked shocked. 'I had no idea,' she said sincerely. 'Honestly, Ron. I knew there had been a kiss between them but I didn't know it had gone any further than that. I certainly didn't know they had. . . .' Her voice trailed off as she saw the look on her brother's face.

'She was with you all bloody weekend,' he shouted, his face red with fury. 'How could you not know? And what do you mean they kissed? You knew that snake was on her case and you didn't do anything to stop him?'

Ginny looked guilty. 'It wasn't like that, Ron. We were just having a bit of fun. I told you I didn't know. As far as I knew it was only one kiss and that was only to thank him.' She shut up, suddenly realising she was making things worse.

'Thank him?' Ron roared. 'Thank him for what? For shagging her?'

Ginny shook her head vigorously, 'No. It wasn't like that. We all went out clubbing and Hermione got completely slaughtered and wanted to go back to the hotel.' She couldn't help looking guilty as she recounted the story. 'The rest of us didn't want to go back because we were having too much fun, so she stormed off and went on her own. When Draco found out he went after her. He was worried about her.'

'Yeah, I bet he was,' Ron said snidely.

'It was lucky he did, actually,' Ginny said, suddenly annoyed with her brother. 'She got into trouble with a group of blokes. They started on her because she was so drunk. Draco hexed them and got her back to the hotel.'

'Where she shagged him to say thank you,' Ron added, his voice bitter.

Ginny sighed. 'I honestly don't know what happened. I wasn't there. But she was so ill the following day I don't believe she was in a fit state to do anything.'

'What, so you reckon he raped her, then?' Ron asked sarcastically.

'No,' Ginny shook her head frantically. 'That's not what I'm saying at all, but I don't know what happened between them. I told you, I wasn't there.'

'So what were you so busy doing whilst my fiancée was off shagging Malfoy?' Ron asked her belligerently. Ginny noticed Harry looking at her closely, too, obviously waiting for her answer.

'Draco and his mates were there celebrating his stag weekend, too. We were just having a laugh and a dance with them, as we knew them. It was just a bit of fun. But you know what a lightweight Hermione is. She was actually ill for most of the weekend because she got so drunk on Friday night.'

'So are you saying he's lying?' Ron asked. 'Surely she was with you the whole time, wasn't she? There was no way she and he could have . . . could they?'

Ginny cast her mind back over the events of the weekend and she gave a small groan as she realised what had happened. 'Oh gods, I'm stupid. I'm so sorry, Ron, but I really didn't think—'

'None of us realised,' Hannah said, cutting Ginny off. She had joined her friend to give her support. 'Hermione was so ill that she stayed behind at the hotel all day on Saturday, but none of us ever considered that she might be up to something with Draco. She hardly talked to him all weekend and she was suffering from a chronic hangover that day, she was really sick.'

'But apparently not that sick,' Ron pointed out coldly.

'What's going on, Ronald?' Mrs Weasley asked. She and her husband had joined the group, both looking confused. 'Why did that man take Hermione? Where has he taken her?'

Hermione's parents had stood up, too, Mr Granger holding onto his upset wife as he looked worriedly around, not understanding where their daughter had gone.

Ginny sighed again as she looked at both sets of parents, knowing that she was going to have to explain things to them although she wasn't entirely sure what was going on herself. She couldn't decide what surprised her more, that Hermione and Draco had apparently engaged in quite a bit more than a last fling and had managed to keep it a complete secret from everyone for the whole weekend or that Draco had abducted Hermione on her wedding day. She walked over to Hermione's parents and indicated that they should join the family up at the altar.

'It appears that Hermione and Draco became rather intimate during our weekend in Blackpool,' she said quietly once the couple had joined the group. 'We honestly weren't aware of it because they kept it a complete secret and hardly spoke to each other when we were all together. But it looks like Draco decided that the wedding between Ron and Hermione shouldn't go ahead. His own wedding was due to take place this afternoon, too, but I'm guessing that's not happening, either.'

'But where's he taken her?' Mrs Granger asked, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears. 'And who is he?'

'He's someone we used to be at school with and to be honest, I don't know where he's taken her, Mrs Granger, it could be anywhere,' Ginny admitted. 'All we can do is wait until she comes back.'

'What if he won't let her come back?' Mrs Granger asked worriedly.

'He will, eventually,' Ginny told her soothingly. 'If he loves her as much as I think he does he'll bring her back when he realises how upset she is.'

She turned to talk to her brother. 'I'm sorry, Ron, but you're going to have to cancel the wedding. Hermione's not going to marry you . . . at least not today.' Ron glared at her angrily and opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. 'You have to be realistic about this. We've got no idea where Draco's taken her and don't know when she's going to be back. And let's face it: the two of you are really going to need to talk when she does finally reappear.'

'Do you think he's taken her to Malfoy Manor?' Harry asked. 'That would seem like the logical place.'

Ginny shrugged. 'Maybe, but I think that's where his wedding was taking place so I'm not sure he would want to take her there.'

'Unless he's planning to marry her instead of the woman he was marrying,' Luna said. She too had walked to the front of the church to join her friends, along with the twins. 'After all, that's what he came here for, to stop her from marrying Ron, so he obviously wants to marry her instead.'

'Well, wherever he's taken her we can't do anything about it until he returns her,' Ginny said sensibly. 'So we might as well go back to the hotel.'

'But what if she comes back here?' Mrs Granger asked.

'Then I'll send her across the road to you,' the vicar said, his voice soothing. 'I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it's a very busy day for weddings and I have another party arriving in twenty minutes so I'm going to have to ask you all to leave shortly anyway.' He looked expectantly at Ron.

Harry, realising that Ron was not up to dealing with the cancellation of his wedding, turned to face the rest of the guests, his voice serious. 'As you can see, we seem to have lost our bride for the time being. Obviously, until Draco returns Hermione we can't establish exactly what's going on or continue with the wedding but we need to vacate the premises so the next wedding can take place. If you could all make your way across the road to the hotel we will wait there for Hermione's return. Thank you all for your patience.'

He gently touched Ron's arm. 'Come on, mate. Let's go back to the hotel and get a drink. I think we all need one.'

'She shagged Malfoy,' Ron said, sounding stunned. 'Why would she do that?'

'I've absolutely no idea,' Harry said honestly as he led his friend out of the church, the rest of the wedding party following along behind. 

* * *

Blaise swore loudly as with a pop, Draco and Hermione Apparated into the room. Immediately she began to struggle, trying to pull herself out of Draco's grasp even as he tried to hold tighter to her. It was clear from the look on her face that she was not happy.

'What the hell do you think you're playing at?' Blaise asked, looking in stunned amazement at the extremely upset Hermione. 'You abducted her. What the hell did you do that for?'

Ignoring Blaise, Draco tried to comfort the upset Hermione. 'I'm sorry, my love, but I couldn't let you marry him.' He relaxed his grip, allowing her to move out of his arms.

Hermione moved far enough away that Draco couldn't take hold of her again, then rounded on him angrily, her voice sounding tearful as she glared at him. 'I can't believe what you just did. You've completely ruined everything, Draco. How dare you ruin my wedding day? Take me back immediately.'

'I don't know what's going on, but your father's looking for you. He came to find you earlier and wasn't pleased to discover you'd disappeared just before your wedding was due to start,' Blaise told Draco. 'What the hell did you bring her here for?'

Draco looked away from Hermione to stare at Blaise as if he was an idiot. 'To stop her marrying Weasley, of course.'

He looked back at Hermione. 'I know you're not happy with me at the moment, Hermione, but it's honestly for the best, my love. You'll realise that eventually. You don't love him.'

'You don't know anything about who I do and don't love,' Hermione shot back. She sounded tearful. 'I can't believe what you did . . . what you said. Now take me back. I need to talk to Ron. I need to explain things to him.'

Draco gave a snort of laughter. 'Explain. What are you going to tell him? Are you going to tell him the truth, Hermione? Do you think he'll still want to marry you if you do that?'

'Why are you doing this to me?' Hermione asked miserably. She sagged visibly at the reminder of what Draco had already told Ron. She could imagine how he was reacting without her there to explain what was going on, especially now that she had been kidnapped. But how could she explain? It was supposed to have remained a secret, was supposed to stay in Blackpool as Ginny kept assuring her it would. But now Draco had completely ruined her life in one moment of selfishness. 'I know you've always hated me but this is low . . . even for you, Draco.'

'I don't hate you,' Draco told her passionately. 'How the hell can you think that after last weekend? Don't you understand, Hermione? I love you.'

Hermione shook her head. 'No, Draco. If you love me you wouldn't have hurt me like you did by telling Ron what happened in Blackpool.'

'I couldn't let you marry Weasley,' Draco repeated, his voice harder now. 'I love you and I know you love me, too . . . at least you could do given the chance. You certainly don't love Weasley and there was no point in you tying yourself to him just because you felt it was too late to cancel the wedding.'

'But what you did . . . what you said to Ron,' Hermione said quietly. Even thinking about it made her feel sick and gave her a pain in her heart. She was crying softly now. 'I have to go back.' Blaise, who was staring confusedly between the couple as they argued, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She began to dab at her eyes. 'Take me back now.'

Draco shook his head but before he could say anything further the door opened and Lucius Malfoy entered the room. He marched over to Draco, completely ignoring the other occupants of the room.

'Ah, there you are. Good. Blaise told me you'd disappeared on some stupid jaunt. Are you ready? Astoria's been waiting for you. It should be the bride who's late, not the groom.' He stopped and looked at Hermione who was still trying to wipe away her tears. 'Who's she and what the hell is she doing here?'

Hermione glared at him. Lucius stared at her in sudden recognition, now also seeming to realise how she was dressed. He turned back to his son.

'What in Merlin's name is going on, Draco?'

'I went to stop Hermione marrying Weasley,' Draco told his father bluntly. 'I love her and I wasn't willing to let her throw away her life with someone she won't be happy with.'

'_You_ were supposed to be getting married ten minutes ago,' Lucius reminded him.

'I know, but it won't be to Astoria. I'm going to marry Hermione instead.'

Lucius shook his head and said imperiously, 'Don't be ridiculous, Draco. Your bride is in a room down the hall waiting for you to get your arse in gear and get into position. I have no idea what you're doing with Miss Granger or why you've brought her here, but I suggest you stop being an idiot and get down there immediately before the guests start to wonder what's going on.'

'I need to get back to my wedding,' Hermione said her voice wavering. She looked at Blaise. 'Can you take me back, Blaise?'

'You're not going anywhere,' Draco told her adamantly. 'And you are definitely not going back there. You're not marrying him and that's all there is to it.'

'You've got your own wedding to worry about,' Hermione retorted, 'so stop butting into mine.' She looked at Blaise pointedly.

Blaise shook his head and sighed. 'I'm really sorry, Hermione, I can't take you. I don't know where you've got to go so I can't visualise it, and anyway, I haven't got my wand on me. I wasn't expecting to need it. Draco's the only one who seems to feel the need to have his with him at all times.'

Lucius looked at Hermione as if assessing the situation. 'You stay in here,' he told her coldly. 'Draco and Blaise will come with me. Once the wedding ceremony is over we'll make arrangements to get you back to where you want to go.'

'I'm not waiting here,' Hermione retorted angrily. 'My wedding should have been over by now. I would have been Mrs Ronald Weasley by this time if your son hadn't kidnapped me.'

The door opened again.

'What's going on? Why hasn't the wedding started yet? Is there a problem?' There was a pause, then in a shocked voice Astoria added, 'Oh, Merlin . . . Draco, what have you done?'

The inhabitants of the room all turned to look at the tall, beautiful woman, dressed in an expensive designer wedding gown, who had just entered the room. She looked at Hermione and pointed at her in shock.

'What's she doing here?'

'I couldn't let her marry Weasley,' Draco explained. 'I had no choice.'

'You abducted her on her wedding day?' Astoria said disbelievingly. 'We talked about this, darling.'

'Yes, and I told you I didn't want to get married to you. I told you I was in love with Hermione.'

'You also told me she was marrying Weasley,' Astoria pointed out.

Draco looked pained. 'She was . . . but I couldn't let her go through with it.'

'But we agreed,' Astoria said, sounding frustrated.

'No . . . you told me what was happening,' Draco retorted. 'You refused to consider cancelling even though you knew I wanted to. You told me there was no point when Hermione was marrying Weasley. But I already knew I couldn't let her do it. Why should we all be unhappy because she was too scared to end their relationship?'

'I wasn't too scared,' Hermione retorted although a little voice in her brain was disputing that. 'I told you I _wanted_ to marry Ronald.'

'Well, I don't know why,' Draco said belligerently, 'when you don't love him — when what you really want is to be with me.'

Hermione was about to respond when Blaise cut in. He had been trying to make sense of what was going on and finally realised that Draco had seriously deceived him and the rest of their friends over his actions with Hermione during the stag weekend. He was cut to the quick that his best friend hadn't at least had the decency to confide in him that something was going on, even if he hadn't shared the details. He had apparently even talked to Astoria about it and he never normally talked to her about anything. Blaise felt hurt and a little betrayed.

'What the bloody hell's going on, Draco? You didn't tell me the truth about you and Hermione in Blackpool, did you?' Blaise said accusingly. He stared angrily at his friend. 'There was obviously more to it than you said, otherwise why the hell would you have brought her here now?'

'Oh dear, Blaise, didn't Draco tell you that he shagged the lovely Miss Granger while you were all on his stag weekend?' Astoria asked sarcastically. She could see how annoyed Blaise was at not being the holder of this nugget of information. She swept round to gaze at Hermione. 'I assume you _aren't_ Mrs Weasley yet?'

Hermione gave a small shake of her head, still looking upset.

Astoria looked at Blaise and grinned again. 'Don't worry, Blaise, he didn't tell me, either. I guessed from the way he was sulking when he got back from Blackpool . . . and all because Granger wouldn't marry him. He really was pathetic, actually. Although I have to admit I was surprised they got it together. I wouldn't have thought she'd have it in her to cheat on Weasley. I thought their relationship was more solid than granite.'

She walked over to Hermione and leant in towards her as if to talk conspiratorially, although her voice wasn't any quieter. 'To be honest, I thought he must have got you completely pissed and then taken advantage of you but he assured me that wasn't the case . . . although he didn't really want to talk about it. He was actually rather coy on the subject, most unlike Draco.'

She moved away from Hermione and back towards Draco. 'Tut tut, you didn't even tell your best friend about what you'd got up to. My word, darling, you really are a dark horse these days, aren't you? Time was we'd never have managed to get you to shut up about getting your leg over, especially if it was with her,' Astoria said, obviously enjoying the discomfort of the other occupants of the room. She shook her head as she grinned once more. 'But suddenly you've become the strong and silent type.'

'It was between Hermione and me,' Draco replied darkly, the scowl on his face deepening. 'We agreed not to say anything about it to anyone.'

'Except that you just and went and told Ronald,' Hermione pointed out furiously. 'What happened to "what happens in Blackpool stays in Blackpool"?'

'I never said that at any point during the weekend,' Draco reminded her. 'Anyway, I had to tell him as you were obviously not going to do it.'

'Of course I wasn't,' Hermione said, 'just as I didn't want to know what he got up to on his stag weekend. There was no need for him to know.'

'Really? You don't think it might have made him think twice about marrying you if he'd known just how many times you and I had sex last weekend? Let's face it, Hermione, we couldn't leave each other alone and we were both equally guilty of wanting it. That's not exactly the behaviour of someone who's totally in love with their other half, is it? All I did was tell the truth.'

'But I told you it was too late,' Hermione said angrily. 'I made my decision and you should have let me stick to it. It isn't just me and Ron you've hurt; what about poor Astoria? How can you treat her so shabbily?'

Draco shrugged dismissively. 'I'm not in love with Astoria, I never have been. Nor is she in love with me. Our wedding was to be one of convenience, not one of desire. The only thing I'm guilty of there is not forcing her to cancel the wedding when I already knew it wasn't going to happen.'

'Is that why you thought you'd ruin my wedding, because yours is a sham?' Hermione asked bitterly.

'No, of course not,' Draco said hurriedly. 'I was trying to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.'

'This is all very interesting, I'm sure, but could I remind you that there should be a wedding going on right now and the guests will be becoming truculent without any news of what the delay is?' Lucius pointed out dryly.

Draco smiled. 'So we'll give them a wedding. I'll marry Hermione.'

'I'm not marrying you,' Hermione retorted. 'I want to go back to my own wedding.'

'You're not using _our_ wedding to marry _her_,' Astoria told him. Her voice had lost its smug tone. 'That's _our_ friends and family out there. They're expecting to see us, not you and some tart you just happened to get your leg over with in Blackpool, darling.'

'Well I'm not marrying you,' Draco said candidly to Astoria, 'and I definitely intend to marry Hermione, so we might just as well do it now rather than end up cancelling both weddings.'

'You need to stop being selfish and do the right thing,' Lucius told his son bluntly.

'But marrying Hermione is the right thing,' Draco said confidently.

He grabbed Hermione's hands and dropped to his knees in front of her. 'You know I want to marry you, and if you're honest you know your wedding to Weasley can't happen, not now. So marry me, please, Hermione. I know it's not exactly what you were expecting, but I promise I'll make you happy.'

Hermione's heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst. Her head was spinning with everything that had happened and she wasn't quite sure how to react to Draco's request. She was still in shock at what he had told Ron, but she knew he was right — that his revelation had pretty much killed any chance of her marrying her fiancée. If she was honest, she wasn't entirely sure she really had wanted to marry him, not after what had happened in Blackpool. But could she give up everything she had ever dreamed of to spend the rest of her life with a man she had always thought she hated?

'I can't get married to you now, Draco. It wouldn't be right. This was supposed to be your wedding to Astoria. We can't just hijack that, and I don't want to. I want my parents there when I get married, not off panicking somewhere because they don't know what's happened to me except that I've been abducted by a madman.'

Draco stood up, smiling at her as she spoke. He moved closer and wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning to whisper in her ear.

'But tell me you will marry me,' he murmured quietly, a touch of desperation in his voice. 'Please, Hermione.'

Hermione turned her head to look deep into Draco's beautiful eyes as the memory of how she had felt when she had been with him in Blackpool slid into her mind, and afterwards, too, the week she had just spent trying desperately to forget about him. She nodded her head.

'Yes,' she said equally quietly, 'but not now. I have to explain things to everyone first. It's not fair to Ron.'

Draco grinned wildly. 'That's all right. I understand that you don't feel comfortable getting married here, but I've got the perfect solution,' he said smugly. His wand was out of his pocket again. He waved it, and he and Hermione Disapparated.

'Now where the bloody hell has he gone?' Blaise asked in exasperation.

Astoria sighed and said a touch bitterly, 'Well, wherever he's gone, the wedding needs to be cancelled. It's obviously not going to happen now. I suppose someone had better go and tell the guests.'

'I'll do that for you,' Lucius told her gently, his voice sympathetic. 'Do you have any idea where Draco might have taken Miss Granger?'

Astoria shook her head. 'I've no idea. I know he wasn't happy about either wedding but I honestly thought he'd accepted that she'd chosen Weasley and was ready to marry me. Obviously that wasn't the case. Perhaps he took her back to her wedding.'

Blaise shook his head. 'No, I don't believe he's gone back there yet. I don't think he'd risk it in case Weasley tries to lure Hermione back to him. I think we're just going to have to wait for them to come back.'

'Well, I'll go and tell the guests. I am really extremely sorry that this has happened, Astoria,' Lucius said, patting her shoulder consolingly.

Astoria shrugged. 'Draco was right, Mr Malfoy. We didn't love each other. It was just convenience for both of us. I do feel rather cheated out of my big day, though, especially as I'm looking so good. But I suppose he should be with her, really, if they love each other that much,' she admitted grudgingly. She looked at Blaise. 'Can you get me a glass of champagne, please, darling?'

Blaise nodded and walked over to the table as Lucius made his way towards the door.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: _Now that we've reached the final chapter, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read and stuck with this story, especially those of you who have left a review - I really do appreciate it. I also want to say thank you to my beta Mamacita for her support and help. Dx  
_

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Hermione looked around her in astonishment. She had absolutely no idea where they were but they weren't back at her wedding.

'Where have you brought me?' she asked.

'I thought as you didn't want to get married at Malfoy Manor we'd do it at Gretna Green,' Draco said. He pointed towards a small village not far ahead of them.

'Gretna Green, you've got to be joking,' Hermione retorted, sounding stunned.

'I don't see why not. Just think how romantic it will be, us having run away together to get married.' Draco looked at her appealingly.

Hermione shook her head and frowned. 'But it doesn't work like that, Draco. For starters, you have to give notice and then wait at least two weeks to get married. You can't just go and do it on the spur of the moment any more; there's all sorts of rules and regulations these days,' she said seriously. 'Anyway, are you actually registered in the Muggle world? They're hardly going to let us get married if you don't have a Muggle birth certificate, and it's going to be a little difficult at your age to explain why you don't have one.'

'I wasn't talking about doing it the Muggle way,' Draco told her sounding amused. 'Wizards use Gretna Green as well, you know, and our rules haven't changed in centuries. We can go and get married immediately.'

Hermione's face fell. 'But if I'm getting married I want my parents there. It won't mean anything without them. I'm sorry, Draco.'

Draco sighed and he pulled Hermione towards him. 'I know you want your parents to be there, my love, but I really don't want to wait another minute to be married to you. Let's do it now, just you and me in secret, just like we were in Blackpool, and then I promise we'll hold another ceremony later so all our friends and family can come along. Please?'

'But even if we did get married now we still need witnesses or something, don't we?' Hermione asked.

Draco kissed her to stop any more protestations; soft and sweet to start with, growing more passionate as the kiss deepened.

'I am completely and utterly in love with you, Hermione, and I want you to be my wife right now,' Draco stated unequivocally once the kiss had finished. He released her from the hug and instead held out his hand. 'Come with me into the village?'

Hermione's heart was clattering and she felt light-headed. She had always imagined that her parents would be there when she got married: her father walking her down the aisle, looking proudly on as she stepped forward to take part in the ceremony. Then again, she had always imagined she would be marrying Ron, too, but she knew Draco was right. The reason she hadn't felt as guilty as she should about what she had done in Blackpool wasn't because she was angry with Ron for what he was doing on his stag weekend but because she didn't love him, not the way she should if they were to spend the rest of their lives married to each other. She did still have love for him but it was more like that for a brother, a best friend, and certainly held none of the passion she felt for Draco. He was right, too, that eventually that lack of desire would make them both unhappy and their marriage would be unfulfilled and ultimately painful. Draco was offering her a chance to start again, to seize the day and do something different, something completely mental. It was time for her to take a chance and truly live.

She smiled and took his hand. 'Okay, let's do it. But we need to go now, before I have a chance to change my mind.'

Hermione had thought she might feel a little self-conscious walking through the village dressed in a wedding gown but she soon discovered she wasn't alone. Gretna Green was far busier than she had expected. Everywhere she looked there were couples or groups, preparing to get or just finishing getting married, and in almost all cases the happy couple were dressed up. The atmosphere was electric and she couldn't help but smile. They had made their way slowly past the Muggle wedding venues, enjoying watching the happy couples as they emerged from the Blacksmith's Shop and the Anvil Hall, and soon found themselves walking down a slightly less busy road. Ahead of them was another Blacksmith's Shop, this one more business than touristy, and Hermione knew at once that it had to be the wizarding venue. It was old-fashioned, picturesque and welcoming, and sitting on a bench just outside were a trio of old ladies enjoying the autumn sunshine and watching the Muggles as they walked towards their own venues completely unaware of what they were hurrying past. Hermione wondered what the Muggles would see if they looked at the shop.

'Don't you look beautiful, my dear,' one of the women, dressed in a pink cardigan, cooed as Hermione and Draco walked slowly towards the Blacksmith's shop.

Hermione smiled at the compliment and coloured a little. 'Thank you,' she said.

'She does look stunning, doesn't she?' Draco agreed happily. He beamed and squeezed Hermione's hand.

'You make a lovely couple,' the second, wearing green, told them.

'Are you going to get married?' the third, in a long blue dress, asked, sounding excited.

'We like a nice wedding, don't we, Doris?' the woman in pink said fondly, and she patted her friend's hand.

'If you're getting married, can we come and watch?' Doris asked bluntly.

The woman in green tutted and said, 'You can't just invite yourself to people's weddings, Doris. It isn't polite.'

'But they haven't got anyone else with them, Mavis,' Doris pointed out. 'It's no fun if they get married on their own. They should have an audience.'

'You're quite right, we should,' Draco said, still smiling. He stuck out his hand for Doris to shake. 'I'm Draco Malfoy and this gorgeous woman is Hermione Granger. We would be very happy for you to join us for our wedding. In fact, we could do with some witnesses, if you would be willing.'

Doris looked ecstatic at this. 'Oh yes, that would be lovely. Thank you, young man.'

'I'm Mavis,' the woman in green said, 'this is Doris,' she pointed at Doris, 'and that is Vera.' The woman in pink waved and smiled. 'We would be honoured to attend your wedding and act as witnesses. Thank you for asking us.' She stood up and peered around the door of the Blacksmith's shop. 'Wayland, are you around? You've got some people in need of marrying here.'

Hermione looked at Draco, her heart skipping a beat. 'Wayland?' she asked quietly, 'As in Wayland Smith, surely not?'

Draco shrugged as a large ruddy-faced man with long dark hair came to the door, almost filling it. He was carrying a towel which he used to dry his hands. He looked at Hermione and Draco and smiled widely.

'Welcome, travellers. Enter here and be of good heart. What you seek lies within,' he said, his rich voice containing a slight trace of what could have been a Germanic accent.

He moved back to allow the group entrance to the shop. Hermione watched as the three old women followed the blacksmith and she turned to look at Draco.

'Are you sure about this?' she asked nervously.

Draco gazed at her tenderly. 'I've never been more sure of anything in my life, Hermione.'

Vera re-appeared at the door. 'Wayland is ready for you now,' she said, her voice serene. 'It's time.'

Hermione gripped Draco's hand tightly and nodded. 'Let's do this,' she said a little breathlessly, and together they followed Vera into the depths of the Blacksmith's Shop where the anvil stood ready.

It was hot inside the shop, almost stifling in fact, and reminded Hermione somewhat of Hagrid's hut at Hogwarts. A large fire was blazing next to a workbench containing all manner of metalworking tools and the largest anvil Hermione had ever seen, behind which stood Wayland Smith.

'Come in,' Wayland boomed, his deep voice seeming to ring around the small room. 'Come and face your destiny.'

Draco and Hermione moved forward to stand in front of the anvil, noticing that the three women had taken seats to the side.

'You wish to marry,' Wayland stated. It was not a question.

Draco nodded, looking eager. 'We do.'

'And are you sure this is what _you_ want?' Wayland asked Hermione. He looked incredibly serious, and quite scary, Hermione thought.

Hermione swallowed and nodded, too. 'Yes,' she replied quietly. 'Yes, it is.'

Another broad grin split Wayland's face. 'Then let us not delay, for marriage among our kind is always to be welcomed. Lay the rings upon the anvil and we will begin.'

Draco frowned. 'We don't have any rings,' he admitted. 'This really was a spur of the moment decision for us.'

The three women and Wayland looked at the couple, clearly wondering how it had been so spur of the moment when they were both dressed for a wedding.

'We were supposed to be marrying other people,' Draco explained rapidly. 'But we love each other and wouldn't have been happy with anyone else. I took Hermione from her wedding and brought her here, our only thought to get married to each other. But we didn't think about rings.'

'Well, of course you didn't, dear,' Mavis said, 'but that's easily rectified.'

The three witches were now standing, holding their wands and they brought them together, points touching.

'Apple wood, I think,' Vera said after studying Draco and Hermione for a moment.

'Are you sure, dear?' Mavis asked with a quizzical look. 'I was thinking walnut.'

'No, no, Vera's right,' Doris said, her blue eyes shining. 'It should be apple.'

'Two against one,' Vera said smugly.

Mavis sighed. 'Apple it is, then.'

The three women began to chant in a foreign tongue, quiet and low at first, getting louder as strands of coloured light the same colour as their dresses erupted from the ends of their wands, entwining and binding. Then abruptly they ceased, the light fading, Doris holding out her hand as something dropped into it. She closed her hand for a moment then grinning, opened her fingers to reveal two rings, seemingly made of wood, roughly made but still charming nonetheless, now sitting in her palm.

'Your rings,' she told Draco and Hermione and walked forward to place them on the anvil.

The couple turned back to face Wayland.

'I take these rings and add the metal that will bind them. It will be but the work of a few minutes,' the huge blacksmith told them.

He turned away and stoked the fire with a pair of bellows, the heat rising further in the small room until it was almost unbearable. He spent a moment choosing his tools before plunging them into the fire, working rapidly, his broad back to the waiting group, blocking out his actions apart from when he turned and scooped up the rings. It was only a couple of minutes later that he turned once more, that beaming smile still on his face, and he threw the completed rings down onto the anvil with a clink.

'And now we conduct the ceremony,' he said sounding satisfied. 'Who will be the witnesses?'

Doris put her hand up, looking excited. Mavis and Vera looked at each other.

'You do it, dear,' Vera said mildly. 'I chose the wood.'

'That's true,' Mavis replied. She looked at Wayland. 'Doris and I will take the part of witnesses.'

Wayland looked at the women for a moment and then nodded. 'Very well, you will bear witness to the joining of this couple.' Turning back to Draco and Hermione, he added, 'Step forward and join hands over the anvil.' He waited while the couple did as he requested.

He looked intently at Draco. 'Tell me your name.'

'Draco Malfoy,' Draco said clearly and confidently.

'And what is your desire?' Wayland asked.

Draco looked at Hermione for a moment and smiled before looking back at Wayland as he said, 'To marry Hermione.'

The Blacksmith nodded. 'Draco Malfoy, will you have this woman to be your partner, to live together in marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and keep her, in sickness and in health, for as long as love may last?

'I will,' Draco replied.

Wayland turned his gaze on Hermione. 'Tell me your name.'

'Hermione Granger,' Hermione said her voice a little quieter than Draco's, sounding more nervous.

'And what is your desire?' Wayland asked.

Hermione gave a small glance at Draco. 'To marry Draco.'

Wayland smiled again. 'So be it, Hermione Granger. Will you have this man to be your partner, to live together in marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, in sickness and in health, for as long as love may last?'

'I will,' Hermione confirmed.

'Draco and Hermione, you stand before me, the gods, and this company, having desired the bond of marriage. Do you do this of your own free will, coming here today without coercion or pressure from other persons?'

Hermione and Draco both answered at the same time. 'I do.'

'Honesty, trust, communication, effort, understanding . . . all these are the building blocks of a firm marriage, and your solemn responsibility to one another. At this moment you stand at the gateway between your old life and your new. If, for whatever reason, you feel unable to step through that portal at this time, speak now.'

For a few seconds there was silence as Wayland waited to see if either Hermione or Draco would say anything. When they remained silent he looked towards the two witches who were waiting to bear witness.

'Will the two of you, present here and witnessing these vows, encourage and bless these two people in their union?'

Clearly and without a trace of doubt the women replied, 'We will.'

'Draco and Hermione, it has been your decision to bind yourselves by marriage, and your lives will be blessed and enriched by your union. The exchange of rings made of wood and metal in the presence of your witnesses will seal the marriage. By Air, by Fire, by Water and by Earth do I bless and consecrate these rings. These rings, a token of your love for one another, serve as a reminder that all in life is a cycle; all comes to pass and passes away and comes to pass again. May the elements bless these rings, the symbol of union, with happiness, wholeness, and love. By the exchange of these tokens of your love for one another, so are your lives interlaced. What one experiences, so shall the other; as honesty and love build, so will your bond strengthen and grow.

'The Circle is a perfect figure, without beginning, without end, with no area of weakness. It is a symbol of the Cycle of Life, of birth, death, and rebirth. This shall serve as a physical reminder of your vow, and that all things begin and end and begin again, as the Gods so decree. These rings shall serve to remind you that life goes on, that these moments pass. When you are engulfed in anger or in sadness, look to your hand, and remember that the Wheel turns forever onward, and it is love that turns the Wheel.'

Wayland picked up one of the rings and held it out to Draco.

'As you place the ring on Hermione's finger, repeat after me: this ring I give to you is a symbol of our love, and of the promises I have spoken to you on this day.'

Draco did as he was requested, his hand stroking Hermione's gently as he placed the ring on her finger.

'Hermione, repeat after me: I shall wear this ring as a symbol of our love, being always mindful of the vows we have spoken on this day.'

Hermione repeated the phrase. Wayland picked up and held out the other ring to her.

'As you place the ring on Draco's finger, repeat after me: this ring I give to you is a symbol of our love, and of the promises I have spoken to you on this day.'

Hermione repeated Wayland's words.

'Draco, repeat after me: I shall wear this ring as a symbol of our love, being always mindful of the vows we have spoken on this day.'

Draco grinned happily as he completed the final words that would bind him and Hermione together forever.

Warmly, Wayland continued, 'Onto each other's hand you have now placed a ring, the outward symbol of your commitment to one another, the circlet symbolising the wheel of life that turns ever onward. There is a lesson in both the hand and the wedding ring. All the actions of your hand move in sympathetic rhythm with the wheel of life and with your destiny. Pleasure, pain, creation, destruction, giving and receiving are all within the power of your hand. As the ring symbolises the cycle, so does the hand symbolise the power of creation. Let this ring remind you of the many turns of the Wheel through which you and your love shall pass, and may everything that is touched by your hand be touched also by love.'

The three witches clapped as Wayland stopped speaking. Hermione and Draco gazed at each other, both flushed with the excitement of what they had just done.

'The kiss,' Doris whispered loudly to Wayland. 'You haven't told them to kiss yet.'

Wayland chuckled, 'Of course.' He grinned at Draco and Hermione. 'You may now seal your love with a kiss.'

Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione at the same time as she did the same to him. The kiss was every bit as passionate as the one they had shared in the nightclub, but this was sweeter somehow, given the power that the wedding ceremony had endowed it. When they finally pulled apart, still gazing into each other's eyes, the witches moved over to circle around and congratulate them.

Leaving Hermione talking to the women, Draco went to pay the blacksmith.

'Thank you,' he said sincerely.

Wayland smiled fondly, his voice gruff. 'Alas, these days my services are required less and less as so many of our kind choose not to marry at all or take the more modern path to matrimony. Those who find their way here are always welcome.' He looked over at Hermione, who was still surrounded by the cooing women, then looked back more seriously at Draco. 'Your wedding will be fortuitous, you know. The Fates brought you to this place. You and Hermione were always meant to be.'

'I know that,' Draco said. 'I just wish we hadn't spent so much time trying to deny it.'

'Everything is as it should be,' Wayland told him. 'Do not waste time on regret. Live for your future not your past. Now, I must work, if you will excuse me.' He turned away to go back to his tools.

Draco walked over to Hermione and took her hand.

'Time to go, I think,' he said with a smile, and gave her another small kiss on the lips.

'You really do make a beautiful couple,' Doris said, and she planted a kiss on Draco's cheek.

'Congratulations and enjoy your life together,' Vera said.

Mavis grabbed both their hands. 'I know you two will always be happy together. It was meant to be.'

'Thank you,' Hermione said. She was beaming but she could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away.

Holding hands they left the Blacksmith's Shop and walked back up the road towards the centre of the village. Once there they stopped outside the Gretna Inn, both ready for a drink and a sit-down.

'Do you want to get something to eat?' Draco asked once they had entered the pub. 'I'm feeling quite hungry now.'

Hermione looked surprised. 'Have you got any Muggle money?'

Draco grinned. 'You forget that I have been thinking about doing this all week. I'm prepared for just about every eventuality.'

She shrugged. 'Okay, we could do, although we really need to go back soon. I know my parents will be panicking like mad about where we've got to and I'm sure yours will be wondering, too. And I really need to talk to Ron. I can't just leave him hanging on.'

'Let's eat first, then,' Draco said. He picked up a menu and began to read it. 'I think I might have a steak.'

Hermione took the menu from him and scanned it rapidly. 'I'll have the mushroom stroganoff, please, and a glass of white wine.'

'You go and get a table and I'll order for us,' Draco said. 'Do you want to sit outside?'

Hermione nodded. 'I'll go and see if there's a seat out there.'

She kissed Draco on the cheek, then headed back towards the door as he went to the bar to order. She stepped outside, and spotting an empty table made her way towards it and sat down on the bench, people-watching while she waited for Draco to join her. Everywhere she looked there were happy couples having their photographs taken, some laughing and joking with their family and friends. Seeing them made her wish once more that her parents were there to share in her wedding. She still couldn't quite believe that she and Draco were married. It seemed so strange that she was with him and not Ron, but having just been through that wonderful and strange ceremony with the blacksmith, who she was now convinced really was the original Wayland Smith, there could be no doubt. She and Draco were meant to be a couple. The Fates had decreed it. In fact, she was now also certain they had been the witnesses at her wedding.

She looked at the ring on her left hand, looking so odd yet at the same time as if it was always meant to be there. It was a beautiful item, that was for sure, and unusual too: a core of apple wood trapped in silver, with an anvil delicately etched into the top of the ring. She ran her finger over the impression.

'They're interesting, aren't they?' Draco said as he joined her at the table, putting a large glass of white wine in front of her. He sat down on the other side of the table, a pint of lager still in his hand. He looked at his own ring, which was identical to Hermione's. 'It's very unusual. I like the anvil. That's a nice touch.'

'Vera was telling me about the symbolism of them,' Hermione said. She took a sip of her wine. 'Apparently the apple wood signifies love. It was the wood she felt defined our relationship best.'

Draco grinned. 'I told you we were in love. So what does walnut mean, then? That Mavis seemed convinced it should be that.'

'Passion,' Hermione replied with a slight smirk.

'I guess she must have picked up on our weekend in Blackpool,' Draco said, raising his eyebrows lecherously. He was smirking, too. 'That was definitely passionate.'

'I'm glad they chose love, though,' Hermione admitted.

Draco took her hand, his thumb rubbing over her ring. 'I do love you, Hermione. I think I always have done, but one thing I am sure of is that I always will.'

Hermione could feel her heart hammering again at Draco's words, a warm glow spreading throughout her. 'I love you, too,' she whispered.

Draco looked ecstatic at her words. A waitress walked towards them carrying a large tray. Draco let go of Hermione's hand and took a long drink of his lager as he watched the girl put the plates, cutlery, and condiments on the table.

'Do you need anything else?' she asked.

Draco shook his head. 'No, I think we're all set, thank you.'

'Have you just got married?' the girl asked.

Hermione nodded her head and smiled. 'Yes. It was a proper elopement for us.'

'Really?' The girl sounded interested. 'That's actually quite unusual these days. Most of the weddings we get here are pre-arranged package deals . . . not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just not quite so romantic.'

'We were actually supposed to be getting married to other people today,' Draco said as he cut into his steak. 'But we decided to run away together and come here instead.'

'Awww, that's so sweet . . . and really romantic,' the girl said, her voice treacly. 'Well, congratulations. I hope you'll be very happy.'

'We will be,' Hermione stated confidently. She looked at Draco and smiled.

The girl walked back into the pub, leaving Hermione and Draco to eat.

'Admit this was a great idea,' Draco said after a few minutes of eating. He grinned smugly at her.

Hermione looked at him for a few seconds. 'It was,' she admitted. 'I was hungrier than I thought and this stroganoff is lovely. The wine isn't bad, either.'

'That's not what I meant and you know it,' Draco said, sounding a little frustrated.

Hermione looked amused. 'No, I know it wasn't, and you're right — it was a great idea. However, I'm still not happy about you telling Ron about what we did in Blackpool.'

'I didn't have any choice, did I?' Draco asked.

'I'm not sure that's true,' Hermione said quietly.

'Of course it is,' Draco persisted. 'If I hadn't told him you would never have stopped the wedding, even though you knew it was wrong to continue with it.'

Hermione looked chastened. She knew it was true. Nothing Draco could have said to her would have stopped her from marrying Ron after she had decided it was too late to cancel the wedding. He had done the only thing available to him, and whilst she knew it had seriously upset Ron and would affect her relationship with him, possibly forever, Draco had been right to do it. She understood now that she was meant to be with Draco, not with Ron.

'Well, I need to explain things to him properly, however hard that is going to be,' she said with a small sigh.

Draco nodded. 'We'll make him understand eventually,' he assured her.

They had finished eating and drinking now. Draco sat back, looking satisfied.

'We need to go,' Hermione told him.

She was thinking again about Ron, and about her parents and what she was going to say to them. A touch of anxiety wound knots in her stomach and nervousness rose at the thought of what they were going to have to do. At least she had Draco to support her.

'You don't want anything else? Dessert or another drink?'

Hermione gave a curt shake of her head. 'No. It's time to leave here, Draco.'

They both stood and walked towards the steps, once again walking through the village back out to the spot they had Apparated to. Draco took her hand and squeezed it gently.

'It will be all right, you know,' he said confidently.

'I'm not so sure,' Hermione said uncertainly. 'This will have hurt Ron badly. And he's not the most rational of people at the best of times.'

'We'll explain it to him. He might be angry to begin with, that's understandable enough. But eventually he'll realise it was the right decision,' Draco assured her. 'Although it might take him a while,' he admitted. He wrapped his arms around Hermione and gave her a kiss. 'I thought we might go back to my place and consummate the wedding,' he said hopefully.

Hermione tried to pull out of his arms. She failed but looked at him sternly. 'No, Draco. We need to go and tell our families what we've done first. It's not fair to keep them in the dark any longer.'

'I just thought a bit of sex would chill us out a bit before we go and face them,' Draco replied. He gave her a lecherous grin.

Hermione shook her head. 'Parents and exes first, consummation second.' Draco looked disappointed. Hermione laughed. 'The quicker we go and explain to everyone what's happened, the quicker we can go to bed. Think of it as a reward for getting an unpleasant and difficult task out of the way.'

Draco brightened and he pulled his wand from his pocket, looking around rapidly as he did so to make sure there was no one to see them. 'You're right, and it's definitely going to be a reward. It's been a very long week, Hermione.'

'So let's go and get the recriminations over and done with,' Hermione said.

'I love you, Mrs Malfoy,' Draco told her sincerely, wrapping his arms tighter about her waist and pulling her close until their noses were touching.

'I love you, too, Mr Malfoy,' Hermione replied happily.

There was a pop as Draco and Hermione Disapparated, leaving nothing but an empty lane on the way to a small village in Scotland. 

* * *

A/N: _This story started life as a little idea about Hermione and Draco meeting and getting on much better than they ever expected to during their hen/stag weekends, but as so often seems to be the case with me (and them) it grew into something else entirely. The original idea would have seen them enjoying each other's company and there would have been a bit of snogging, but nothing more than a bit of sexual tension between them causing a vague "what if?" feeling when they parted at the end of the weekend, both of them ready and willing to marry their original partners. But once Hermione got so drunk and Draco had taken her back to the hotel, it was clear things were heading in a completely different direction to the way I'd originally envisaged it._

_I don't know Blackpool having only ever been there once as a child, but I think most of the places I've mentioned existed there in 2002 which is when the story is set, although probably not in the places I've put them. Apologies if anyone does know the area and thinks I've got it all wrong. Draco and Hermione's wedding ceremony is part of a Wiccan handfasting service which I found on the internet. There was a huge amount more to the actual ceremony, including all that binding of hands which I didn't want to include for their wedding, but you would have all died of boredom reading it and I think the parts I used more than covered what needed to be said. The three old ladies were, of course those three wyrd sisters from "the Scottish play", otherwise known as Clothos, Lachesis and Atropos. Unfortunately their names don't translate into anything English, and Shakespeare only named one of them, so I gave them the sort of names I suspect they would call themselves if they were masquerading as little old ladies in a small Scottish Muggle village. Wayland Smith, of course, is the stuff of legend too, and whilst he isn't actually associated with Gretna Green, being a Blacksmith it seemed too good an opportunity not to put him into the story. _


End file.
